El Hazard Earth
by Ken
Summary: Based on El Hazard OAV series. Makoto has returned to Earth to find Ifurita and bring her home. They plan for a quite life together, but unexpected dangers await both on her home planet and his.
1. Default Chapter Title

This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction based on the El Hazard series. Note that it is based on the continuity of the two OAV series and the second television series "The Alternative World". It certainly contains spoilers for the first OAV series, and a few for the second OAV series. At this point, six chapters are planned. Though I call them "chapters" they are more or less independent stories (which is what I said about my Sailor Moon stories, so you're free to believe as much of that as you like). 

El Hazard and characters therein were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura, and brought to North America by Pioneer LDC. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply. I'll give this one a Mature rating. 

Ken Wolfe 

Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca 

El Hazard: Earth Chapter 1 - As Long as it Takes 

*Thank you, Makoto.* 

Can you hear me, Ifurita thought. Do you know how grateful I am, for this gift beyond price? You have given me memories of love and peace, given them to one who had memories of nothing save fire and death. Before I must part from you, I hope I can at least show you my gratitude. That, and my love. 

They were memories of things that had never happened... but things that *should* have happened. Would have happened - had she and Makoto been born in the same land. She lost herself in these memories... freshly formed, yet deep and strong as if nurtured over a lifetime. She remembered the long, pleasant walks together, just the two of them wandering through this vast city that sprawled out beyond the horizon... having no purpose beyond just being together. She remembered cheering for his successes, consoling him for his failures, and him returning her every kindness with his own. She remembered their first date and their first kiss. She remembered all of Makoto's friends... no, all of *their* friends, growing up alongside them. 

Ifurita's reverie was rudely interrupted. The inhuman senses that were part of her heritage as a Demon God were warning her that she was rapidly approaching her objective. It was time to get to work. 

With that thought, ancient battle instincts came to the fore, and her surroundings came into sharp focus again. She was still drifting down the shaft inside this infernal machine, half flying and half falling. Still drifting down this slanted corridor of gleaming machinery, down towards the core of the Eye of God. 

She could see flashes of light ahead. They were coming from the end of the tunnel far below, where it opened into a chamber. The rumbling and thrumming of the floating colossus was building to a peak. There was no way to stop it, the Phantom Tribe saboteurs had seen to that. She could feel the unimaginable energies being gathered, built up to the point where they could no longer be contained, could feel space itself begin to bend and ripple. At best she was very nearly too late. 

She shot into the vast chamber, hardly slowing her descent. In its center, held in place by a column that stretched from top to bottom of the ribbed oval chamber, was the core of the doomsday machine... the brightly glowing reactor that was sending discharges of writhing lightning bolts out in all directions. Immediately, the eldritch lightning that coursed through the vast space assaulted her like a living thing, crashing into and through her. Had she been human, she would have died instantly. Even her shielded body would shatter under this assault in scant minutes. 

It didn't matter. One way or the other, this was going to end very soon. She closed her eyes, reached out to her talisman. Almost instantly, she felt it as if the staff were right next to her. Her heart quickened for the first time since she began her desperate plunge into the belly of this infernal beast. It suddenly felt like *he* was right next to her. The one she would not see for ten times a thousand years.... the one she would *never* see if she failed this task, the Demon God reminded herself. 

*Makoto, guide me.* The response was astonishingly quick. She felt Makoto's soul enter her own as it had those other times, on the three occasions when she had been on the verge of slaying him. But it was different this time... the object of his scrutiny was not her, but rather the vast machine that had swallowed her up. She saw it through his eyes... no, it was more than seeing, more even than the most intimate touch... she *was* the Eye of God, and it was her. She surprised herself by smiling. This feeling of wonderment, was that his gift as well? It was so complex, this thing, and yet so absurdly simple. She didn't even have to think about what had to be done. A child could see what was required. Ifurita/Makoto/God's Eye opened a hole in the heavens, a hole through which she/he/it would send the hellish space-ripping power that was poised to shatter the world. 

The Eye blinked. 

---------- 

After a journey of unimaginable distance, Ifurita materialized inches over the ground of her new world. It was those last few inches that tripped her up. She stumbled and fell, disoriented and exhausted. 

She lay there, staring up into a blue sky marred by just a few distant wispy clouds. Grass, she was lying on grass. There was a light breeze. It was a warm day. She was alive. 

It had been a near thing. An instant before the energies gathered by the Eye would have burst forth she sent them through the hole in space. Then she had been pulled into the vortex, as she knew would happen. Like a swarm of fireflies in a hurricane the stars had flown past her. All in an instant. 

Ifurita sat up, relieved to find that she had some of her strength back. She looked out over a rolling plain that ended in a forest far away. Tall, yellow grass rippled in time with the breeze. A few tiny insects buzzed around her, then traced a crazy path away from her as if recoiling from the smell of her alien blood. Her other senses came back online, reaching out to probe where her eyes could not see. A few small animals crept through the grass here and there, yet more crawled through tunnels under the ground. 

*So this is Earth.* She stood up and looked around. More of the same, a field dotted with clumps of trees, more woods in the distance. She glimpsed the sparkling water of a distant river. Not a sign of human life anywhere. Nor would there be. Probably not for thousands of years. She closed her eyes and hugged herself as a shiver went through her. It had sounded so simple and logical when he was standing there beside her. She knew he would find her, all she had to do was wait. But now, with him on the other side of space and time, the reality of it weighed down on her oppressively. For the next ten thousand years, all she would have of him was memories and dreams. Was she doomed to feel this emptiness for each one of those ten thousand years? 

Then they were whispering to her again, the voices that followed the Demon Gods wherever they went. Makoto had freed her from those voices, they were no longer her masters. But they were still a part of her, she could not help but hear them. They were interrupting her contemplation of the centuries before her with some far more immediate facts. She had escaped serious injury, but much of her energy had been drained. She was reduced to not much more than human strength, and would gain little more without her talisman. A cold dread washed over her. She looked down at her black-gloved hands, at her black and silver uniform, now tattered and threadbare. She was barefoot and empty-handed, stranded in an empty land, cut off from any hope of help. The flaw in her grand scheme came crashing down like an anvil. 

How would she ever be able to build the mausoleum Makoto must find her in? 

She could see it as clearly as if it had already happened. She recognized it as soon as Makoto had given her the vision, recognized the form and function of the machinery that had so puzzled her young rescuer. She knew what it would take to build such a thing... and knew with absolute certainty that she could not do it in her current state. 

Panic seeped into the edges of her mind, threatening to overwhelm her. If she were unable to make the hibernation chamber that Makoto must find her in... she slapped that thought away like a cup of hemlock. Failure was not an option. She was still the greatest Demon God who ever lived. She would find a way. Ifurita became one with the voices once again, let their cold mechanical logic calm her. Now more like a council of advisors than the harsh masters they had once been, they helped her think through the problem, helped her resolve this apparent contradiction. 

The answer she came to was remarkably simple. If Makoto was to find her in the mausoleum, then it must already be here. 

---------- 

Days later, just as Ifurita was thinking she would have to start wandering the Earth in search of her resting place, she had an inspiration. What if the place had been hidden not only from human eyes, but from those of a Demon God? At that point it became a simple exercise: look for the place where her senses detected nothing at all. In a very short while, she found it. 

More days passed as she crafted crude tools of wood and flint and performed the laborious excavation. Finally her spade hit something that shattered it. Down on her hands and knees, frantically sweeping away dirt, exposing a few inches of the thing, she wept for joy at the sight of the familiar metal. 

It was another day's work to expose the entire door. Only now, finally standing before it, did Ifurita let herself wonder at the wider implications of what she was seeing. The symbols on the door were all too familiar. They were from the El Hazard of her younger days, from the age that had produced the Demon Gods. 

Somebody had arrived here first. 

The door was easily moved aside, there was no lock. Though she had been expecting this, she was relieved. Even if the builders had been hoping to hide the thing from her kind, no door could withstand the power of even the least of the Demon Gods. Assuming, of course, they had their full power to draw upon, which she certainly did not. 

Even before she stepped across the threshold, Ifurita recognized the room and what it contained. It was a hexagonal room, not very large but with a high domed ceiling. Colourful symbols decorated the floor and walls, variations of the hexagram being dominant. At the far end of the room was the hibernation chamber. It too was brightly adorned, with a stylized eye painted on the small onion dome that crowned it. The body of the chamber was tall and narrow, made to look like a stone that had been carved into a six-sided column. Ifurita knew better. Each side of the column was a very close-fitting segment of the door that could fold away to expose the chamber's interior. 

What stopped Ifurita in her tracks was not what she saw, but what she felt. As soon as she stepped inside the mausoleum, the cloaking field which had nearly concealed it from her Demon God sight was gone. She could perceive the interior with her full array of senses. Instantly, all the inner voices were shouting out the same alarm. 

*There is another.* Her eyes and all her senses immediately focused on the hibernation chamber that stood on the opposite side of the room. It was occupied. By a Demon God. Her hand twitched, curled as if to grasp her nonexistent talisman. Had it been with her, her most primal instinct would have acted for her before she could even think. Would have blasted the chamber to atoms. 

She hugged herself, willing her shivering to stop. Gradually, the rush of adrenaline and powered up battle implants died away, her body stopped racing. The voices raised in alarm were still there, but she fought them down, pushed them back until they were just white noise, a backdrop of anxiety and wariness. She forced herself to think, to step back and apply reason to the situation. 

The first time the Eye of God had been used, in the Holy Wars, it had set victims in their thousands and millions adrift in time and space. Ifurita had seen it with her own eyes, seen whole cities of people being drawn up into the gaping black maws of emptiness, thrown screaming into far-flung dimensions, never to be seen again. It had also pulled other things back again. The Phantom Tribe, at the very least. Maybe others. The Demon Gods of the opposing nations had been primary targets for the weapon. It was not inconceivable that one of them could have been flung all the way out here. But to come to this very spot... it just seemed too fantastic. Or was it? 

Ifurita closed her eyes, cast her mind back to her last moments on El Hazard, became the Eye of God again. Through the senses of that great machine, space was something quite different than the black emptiness the human part of her saw. To the Eye space was a frothing maelstrom, riddled through and through with writhing tunnels of spacetime. She searched for an appropriate word. *Wormholes.* The Eye did not make the wormholes, they were already there. The Eye simply used the colossal energies it gathered to open the wormholes to macroscopic size, to push matter and energy through them like sewage through a pipe. She could see them as the Eye saw them, an impossible tangle of coiling lines running away in all directions - not just the three visible directions but thousands - gravitating around worlds and suns as if snared there. 

She shuddered, as she thought of all those people of her time, deposited onto worlds of hellish heat or worlds where the air itself lay frozen... or thrown straight into the hearts of distant stars. 

She now used her senses instead of her memory, used them as Ifurita/Makoto/God's Eye had in those last few moments. Yes, she could see it. The tunnel that had brought her hurtling across the cosmos. The golden thread that still linked her with *him*. The path down which she must send him, so long from now, to complete the circle of time. 

The tunnel that had brought this other Demon God to Earth. 

The last piece of the puzzle was the mausoleum. One of her inner voices, her former masters, provided the answer almost immediately. Yes, of course she would build it. Finding herself stranded on this land, with no hope of being reunited with her former masters, her most basic programming would have taken over. Just as it had for Ifurita. Build a chamber to preserve yourself, the voices had commanded. To await a new master, however long it may take for one to find you. Ifurita closed her eyes, sent a query to her voices. She nodded, satisfied at the reply she got. A masterless Demon God would regard her as neither friend nor foe. 

Hopefully, Ifurita thought. Hopefully, she'll be willing to listen. To grant me what I need. 

---------- 

At length, Ifurita made up her mind. She walked into the middle of the room, knelt down and placed her palm against the floor. She closed her eyes and projected her will into the machinery below, became one with it as Makoto had shown her. She sent out a simple command. *Awaken.* She felt the machine respond. She opened her eyes and stood up. In seconds, shimmering columns of soft, incandescent light materialized all around her, running straight up from the little circles in the floor to their opposite numbers in the ceiling. They rose from all the points and intersections of the hexagram she stood on, forming a shimmering pattern of parallel lines all around her. Ifurita spread her arms wide, coming in contact with two of the columns. They curled and rippled at her touch. Others curved in as if drawn towards her. *I am the one your mistress has awaited,* she intoned. *Awaken her.* 

She felt the machinery around her powering up, going into action. Sights and sounds that she had experienced through Makoto's eyes repeated themselves. The heavy cylindrical cover that hid the chamber - looking so much like a massive sarcophagus stood on its end - lifted off the shining smooth floor, exposing vents on each side of the chamber. The machinery's soft thrumming was suddenly drowned by the hissing of rushing air as the chamber shed its supercooled gases. Mist formed rapidly, spreading out across the room, swallowing the floor under a silvery cloud. The advancing mist rolled across Ifurita's bare feet, chilling them. She shuffled nervously, wrinkled her nose at the acrid smell that rose up out of the mist. Other machinery thrummed to life, and the mist already began to dissipate as fresh air was forced into the room. The painted stone chamber came into motion again, its thick stone panels drawing aside, exposing what lay within. 

Ifurita gasped. "Erinyes..." she breathed. So, it was one of the Erinyes who had been marooned here. 

The chamber slowly lowered its occupant down to ground level, the platform coming level with the floor. The dome of the chamber, now attached only to the back wall of the room, loomed over her like a ponderous crown. The woman who stood motionless there was a stunning beauty, but one utterly different from Ifurita. Her oval face - the only part of her not hidden by her elaborate black-trimmed scarlet uniform - was a dusky chocolate colour. Straight jet black hair spilled across her shoulders and down her back to her waist. She was very tall, with a slim, almost boyish build. They went to a lot of trouble, Ifurita mused, a lot of time and effort, to give us these perfect forms. Their makers, as well as being scientists and engineers, had been insufferable mystics. They had been obsessed with notions of aesthetic perfection, believing the perfect forms would lead to perfect weapon through some cosmic synchronicity. Of course these perfect universal forms somehow ended up being different in different places... the appearance of each Demon God always ended up reflecting the prevailing local ideas of feminine beauty. Perversely, what they saw as the perfect form of life-givers was somehow thought appropriate for their ultimate death-dealers. 

Erinyes remained standing motionless, held in place only by her autonomous balance systems. As Ifurita suspected, she did not awaken. The instrument of her awakening stood next to her, impaled into the floor of the chamber like a signpost. Her talisman. It was very long and slender, its milk-white shaft interrupted only by two small oval obsidian orbs, and topped by a stylized blade the colour of dried blood... a blade that would have been wickedly dangerous had it been given an edge. 

Ifurita walked up to Erinyes, grasped her talisman and lifted. It came free easily. She was startled for a moment when the base on which the chamber had been resting began to slowly rotate. Turning with it, Erinyes' still form turned ninety degrees then stopped. Ifurita caught herself smiling. *Just in case it wasn't completely obvious what to do.* Sure enough, the form-fitting bottom of Erinyes' uniform had a small hole just at the base of the spine. It exposed the one flaw in her perfect body, very similar to Ifurita's own. Inexplicably, the small of Ifurita's back began to itch, and she became very aware of the little round socket - the keyhole - that marred her own ivory back. A scowl came to her face, as she thought of what that socket represented. It was the chink in her armour, the one through which her puppet-strings had passed. 

The staff in her hand wavered. Ifurita shook her head to clear it, and her hand was steady once again. Please forgive this indignity, she implored her unconscious companion. Especially since I am about to ask for a very selfish favour. 

She took the staff firmly in both hands, and guided the end of it into Erinyes' socket. The magnetic locks fixed it firmly in place. Ifurita shifted her grip to the bladelike head of the talisman. She closed her eyes. A Demon God could not become the master of another, she reminded herself. The intention of this action was not to establish dominance. Still, she found herself unwilling to watch this... there was no other word for it. This obscene act of rape. 

She gave the talisman a half-turn to the right. She sensed the sparks of energy discharging along its shaft, felt a tingling in her hands. Another half-turn. Lightning danced along the talisman. Another. Stronger discharges played up and down Erinyes' body and her own. Another. Ifurita's tightly closed eyes could not hide her other senses, she was aware of movement in front of her. Another. Erinyes' limbs twitched again. Another. A dancing, crackling incandescent corona played all around them. Another. Erinyes' whole body shuddered. Another. Ifurita could feel the recognition subroutines in the talisman taking her measure. Another. The recognition subroutines were very confused at finding a Demon God at the other end of the talisman. They shut down with an abnormal termination message, but the awakening process continued. Another. Ifurita could detect Erinyes' sensors coming online, she was awakening. A vision of Jinnai's face flashed in Ifurita's mind... *no!* Must complete the task. Another. Am I any better than he, awakening a Demon God to do my bidding? Just one more... I'll have time to hate myself for this later. 

The lightning discharges abruptly ended, and there was silence once again. Ifurita withdrew the talisman from its socket. Subtle movement in Erinyes' body told Ifurita that she was fully awake. She debated stepping around in front of her, then decided against it. She will be confused, best let things proceed at her pace. 

Erinyes turned around, and beautiful dark violet eyes bore into Ifurita's own. Eyes she had seen in another Erinyes, in the field of battle... milliseconds before Ifurita had vaporized her. The look of neutral calm had been replaced by one of cold malevolence. Ifurita barely suppressed a shiver. *This used to be me.* 

"Ifurita." A smooth, contralto voice, devoid of expression. "Why are you here?" 

"The Eye of God was used again, Erinyes." Ifurita tried to keep any strong emotion out of her voice... that would probably confuse and alarm her even more. "I was cast adrift and landed on this world just as you did." 

"Who do you serve?" In other words, are you my enemy. 

Ifurita had already composed the half-truth she would give. "My master is Mizuhara Makoto, who serves the Kingdom of Rostalia." 

"Rostalia has no Demon Gods," Erinyes said. "They are not one of the Great Powers." Her neutral tone darkened in a way that implied Ifurita was lying. Indeed, in their early days, Rostalia had been a tiny, backward place, hardly deserving to be called a kingdom. 

"Much time has passed on El Hazard," Ifurita said carefully. "All the Great Powers are gone. New kingdoms have arisen." 

For just a moment, Erinyes' cold expression wavered almost imperceptibly. That news had affected her somehow. "Why have you woken me?" 

Ifurita held out Erinyes' talisman as if it were an offering. "I wish to ask you a favour, Lady Erinyes." 

Erinyes' slim black eyebrow lifted a fraction. For all their power Demon Gods were slaves, unworthy of being addressed formally. That honour was supposed to be reserved for nobles and freeborn. Humans. After just a moment's hesitation, Erinyes reached with one hand and took the talisman from Ifurita. She let it drop casually to her side, holding it horizontally by the balance point. Ifurita could feel her running a system check on it - which was standard procedure. But she let it remain powered down. She did not consider Ifurita a threat. For now. "I currently serve no master," Erinyes said, being neither haughty or apologetic, simply explaining. "I have no reason to serve Rostalia. Only a freeman who awakens me may demand my service." 

"Erinyes, I am not demanding your service, I am asking for a favour. You and I have travelled not only in space but in time, into the distant past. My master was yet living when the Eye of God sent me here, so I know he will come looking for me. But many centuries will pass on this world before he can come. I need to build a hibernation chamber to await him in, but I lack the strength. I ask that you let me use yours." 

Erinyes frowned. "Why would you even ask me this? You know I have no reason to give this chamber over to you. My programming demands that I wait here for a new master. Building the chamber with local materials was a long and difficult task, one I may not be able to do again. And I have no reason to try." 

Ifurita felt a growing tightness in her chest as despair and failure settled into her soul. But she hung onto a little golden strand of hope. She didn't just say no, Ifurita reminded herself. She explained herself to me, told me her reasons. Ifurita played the last card she had. "Erinyes, you don't need to wait here for a new master to take possession of you. I can free you from your programming, if you'll let me." 

Erinyes hesitated. Hints of confusion played across her masklike face... maybe Ifurita was just hoping for the hints of curiosity and desire she could swear she saw. "Explain." 

She should have said *Impossible,* Ifurita thought. She is curious. "I am not bonded to Mizuhara Makoto by my talisman. I serve him.... no, we serve each other, by our own choice. He freed me from the hold of the talisman. I serve no master, yet I can act freely, I am not bound by programming." 

Erinyes' frown deepened. She opened her mouth as if to speak. *Impossible.* Ifurita could imagine how difficult it was for Erinyes not to utter that word. Ifurita herself could not have imagined such a thing... until Makoto had shown her. "How....?" the rest of the question stuck in the dusky Demon Gods throat. 

Ifurita could practically see Erinyes wrestling with the Voices. They would all be screaming at her to reject this offensive input. She hid it well, but the pain of her struggle must be excruciating. Such a brave woman, to even try. "He just had to touch me," Ifurita said gently. "He can interface with any of the Living Machines, without the use of instrumentality. He became one with me, and set me free from my bond with the talisman. I learned from feeling him do that, learned how to do it myself." 

Or at least I hope I learned how to do it myself. 

Erinyes shook her head. It was a jerky motion, as if not entirely voluntary. "No... that's... not... possible." 

*She's losing.* "It's not impossible. I am the proof." Ifurita took a step closer to the taller woman, reached out to her. "Let me-" 

"NO!" She lashed out, sending Ifurita sprawling. "Renegade! You've betrayed your master, and you want to trick me with your lies!" 

*Oh, how could I have forgotten.* The masters' greatest fear, one they only ever acknowledged in whispers among themselves... that a Demon God would ever break its programming. The directive came crashing back into Ifurita's head: friend or foe, renegade Demon Gods must be destroyed. 

Ifurita could see it in her counterpart's eyes: she had locked on target. Apparently Erinyes had the same programming. 

The talisman came up sharply, its muzzle just in front of Ifurita's face. She could sense it powering up, could see the blue-white plasma building at the tip. She had two seconds to live. Ifurita shoved her hand into the staff's glowing tip, ignoring the pain. 

What had come instinctively for Makoto took every ounce of Ifurita's will. Driven by desperate fear, she threw her soul like a hastily lobbed grenade into the void in front of her. It connected with something. Images flashed through her head. Visions of battles, familiar and yet not so. Not her memories. 

They were suddenly wrenched away. Overcome with vertigo, Ifurita fell to her side, barely halting her fall with her arm. She looked up at her executioner. Erinyes was a couple of steps further away now. The staff quivered in her tight grip, her breaths came in shuddering gasps, and her look of astonishment was such that it seemed she should not be able to stand. "What... what did you do to me?" 

It had been nothing at all like when Makoto had linked with her. The images had been vague and fleeting... presumably it had been the same for Erinyes. But it had been enough to send her reeling. And to power down her talisman, whether consciously or not. 

Ifurita looked Erinyes squarely in the eye. "Now you know that I wasn't lying." 

Erinyes spoke in a harsh whisper, each word coming out as its own shuddering exhalation. "I...saw...you...are...free." 

"Yes, I am. I can do the same for you if you'll let me." Ifurita read Erinyes with every predator's instinct at her disposal. It gave her a very clear picture. Erinyes was frozen, her mind caught in a numbing chaos between programming and will. The former demanded the renegade's death, the latter yearned for what Ifurita had offered. Neither would yield. If Ifurita so much as moved she would register as a threat... which was all that Erinyes programming needed to tip the balance and break the deadlock. 

Ifurita made her decision. She sprang, uncoiling like a python. 

She was under Erinyes' guard before she could bring the staff to bear. She wrapped her arms around Erinyes' hips and crushed her in a bearhug, flattening her face against the tall woman's abdomen. Once again, they merged. 

---------- 

Ifurita floated in a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of silvery light. It was all she could do to just maintain her self-image in this floating world. It was not real - just a manifestation of Erinyes' inner systems - but she had to treat it as being real. If she lost that belief, the link would be broken and all would be lost. 

*Ifurita, is that you?* The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. She was hearing Erinyes' inner voice, unfiltered by the harsh censors that regulated her physical voice. It was desperate, pleading. 

"Yes, Erinyes, it's me. Don't be alarmed. I'm going to set you free." 

*Ifurita, I've lost control utterly. It's the programming. It's going to pull you away from me and tear you limb from limb. I can't stop it, it's already happening!* 

"It's okay, I'll only need a second." She had no idea how long it would take, but if Erinyes' was right a second of real time was all she had. 

*Ifurita, I want... I want to be free from the voices.* 

"I know. Just try to be calm, it will help me find what I'm looking for." Or it may not. 

The flickering of the kaleidoscope that she floated through slowed its frenetic pace somewhat. Erinyes was trying to calm her spirit... whether it would be of any help to Ifurita was another matter. Even accounting for the accelerated pace of their internal worlds, her time must be very nearly up. 

She saw it up ahead. The staff... or its counterpart in Erinyes' inner mind. Both thrilled and desperate, Ifurita reached out for it with all her will. It seemed so far, and each inch between them closed with glacial slowness. It was like running against a wind. Some part of her chalked it up to the key's defense mechanisms. All she could see was her outstretched hand and the staff that was now so tantalizingly close. Her vision blurred, the dancing lights began to fade, like a dream on the verge of ending. 

Ifurita snarled. "No, I won't let you have her!" She threw her soul into the link, reaching out for a target she could no longer even see. The dream ended with the abruptness of an explosion. 

---------- 

Her sense of feeling came back before her sight. It told the story. The tip of a power staff pressed under her breastbone, its charge building. *Makoto, I'm sorry.* 

Two seconds later, she was still alive. 

The scene came into focus. She was on her back, Erinyes standing over her, holding the staff that was primed to blow her in half. Only it wasn't doing that. It was powering down. Erinyes withdrew it from where it had been pressed painfully into Ifurita's midsection. Ifurita started to breathe again. Very slowly, not wanting to alarm her counterpart, Ifurita got to her feet. She needn't have been concerned, Erinyes didn't even notice. She was still staring out into space, looking like a feather would knock her over. 

"Erinyes?" Ifurita said very softly. "Are you okay?" 

The only thing that broke the silence was the power staff clattering to the floor. Erinyes looked down at her upturned hands as if seeing them for the first time. She finally looked at Ifurita. "They told me to kill you but... I didn't. I didn't." 

Ifurita smiled. "Thank you." 

Erinyes looked utterly perplexed. "You... thank me?" 

"Your programming told you to kill me, but you chose not to. That's what freedom is. That is the gift Makoto gave to me. And to you." 

"Is he our new master?" 

Ifurita chuckled. "No, you have no master. Not Makoto, not me, not anybody. You can do whatever you want." 

"I don't..." Ifurita frowned, sensing fear, almost panic in Erinyes' manner. That finished the sentence for her. *I don't know what I want.* 

It suddenly hit Ifurita, the reason for Erinyes' panic. Chaos take me for a fool, she cursed to herself. The reason for my freedom had been standing right in front of me... all the reason I could need. Erinyes had just been cast adrift with no anchor. Ifurita had to help her, though she wasn't sure how. She made her decision. She took both of Erinyes' hands in her own. "Erinyes, why don't I tell you about what happened to me. Maybe it will help you understand better." 

Erinyes looked down at their joined hands, as if discovering one of the wonders of the world. "You mean, by going inside me again?" 

"No." Ifurita's recent experience convinced her that her mastery of what Makoto did so easily was far from perfect. "I can just tell you. Would you like that?" 

Erinyes' brow knit, as if she had been asked to solve some esoteric problem of moral philosophy. Ifurita just waited. Very gradually, Erinyes' features relaxed. The corners of her mouth came up almost imperceptibly. She squeezed back on Ifurita's hands, just a little. "Yes. Yes, I would... *like* that." 

---------- 

Erinyes had been agreeable to walking along the river, as she was agreeable to anything Ifurita suggested. Ifurita talked a bit more about the city she had seen in Makoto's memories, the city that would occupy this spot thousands of years from now. She knew exactly where the school would be, of course. As for the other places, she was just guessing. Presumably this river would disappear or become a canal. Erinyes listened, but offered no comment. 

Ifurita regarded her sadly. *I can't just leave her like this.* 

She had explained it all in as much detail as she could remember. Starting from when Jinnai had awakened her. She explained how her contact with Makoto had exposed the emptiness of her existence like a raw nerve. How he had freed her, but more importantly gave purpose to that freedom. How she had performed the only meaningful action of her existence to date, the act which had saved Makoto's adopted world and allowed her to complete the circle and keep her promise to await their fateful meeting. 

Erinyes had agreed to let Ifurita use the hibernation chamber. Its crude power systems were slowly recharging themselves even now. But she had said little else. 

Walking beside Ifurita along the grassy river bank, Erinyes looked so much like a lost child. Which was an odd way to think of a woman who towered half a head over Ifurita, but that was exactly what she looked like. Ifurita had shared everything she could with her fellow Demon God. When there was nothing more to say she tried the link again. They even got good at it, to the point where Erinyes learned the way of manipulating wormholes. But try as she might, Ifurita could not give her those memories of a life lived for its own sake, a life lived without masters and victims. They were not truly her memories, Ifurita thought bitterly, so it seemed they were not hers to give. 

But without that, the woman she had set free was nothing but a weapon without a target. There was nothing to fill the void left where her chains had been. *Oh Makoto, I truly thought I could pass your precious gift to another of my kind. But I am failing miserably. I don't know what to do.* 

They came to a cluster of large rocks on the riverbank that forced them to go around. Well, not exactly forced, Erinyes could have carried them over as she had flown them to the riverbank. But this was supposed to be a walk. They were entering the forest that the river emerged from, so Ifurita climbed onto some smaller rocks to avoid undergrowth that grew next to them. She glanced towards the river. "Oh, look." A little hollow in the middle of the rocks was filled with gently rippling water. It sparkled in the afternoon sun that filtered through the branches that arced out from the nearby trees. "I didn't expect the water to be so clear." 

"It is fed by river water that contains very little silt," Erinyes said woodenly. "And there is no soil on these rocks. Therefore the water is clear." Ifurita sighed. She had an inexplicable urge to push Erinyes into said water. 

Inspiration came to Ifurita in that moment. I've been trying to imagine how Makoto would get through to Erinyes, she thought. But what would one of his lady friends do? She turned to her companion. "Erinyes, let's go for a swim." 

Erinyes' eyebrow arched up. "If you wish to cross the river, I can fly us across." 

"No, I mean just swim right here. It's something the..." she almost said the *humans* "people of El Hazard do to relax and clear their minds." 

"I see. Very well." She started to climb down towards the water. 

"No no, you have to take your uniform off first." 

Erinyes looked back up. "But why? The water won't harm it." 

"No, but it won't be a proper swim otherwise." Ifurita unclasped the tattered jacket of her uniform and peeled it off. Erinyes watched her uneasily, looking very much like she was trying to think of some reason not to do this. Apparently she couldn't find one. She began unfastening her own uniform. 

This is the first time I've been out of uniform in centuries, Ifurita mused. She stepped onto a rock at the edge of the pool. "I'll test the water." She had this vague idea that it was best to just jump in all at once, though nothing in her second-hand memories explained why. So she just followed her instinct and leaped. 

A few moments later Erinyes looked down at her with a very puzzled expression. "Why did you make that loud noise?" 

"Because it's *cold*!" 

"It should be well above freezing." 

Ifurita tread water in the middle of the pool. The floating sensation was lovely, she could already see the appeal behind this. "Well then why don't you get in and find out?" 

Erinyes seemed vaguely annoyed by the challenge. She lowered a foot into the water, gasped, and pulled it back out with superhuman speed. 

"What's wrong?" 

Erinyes shook her head, utterly bewildered. "I don't know. It was just a mild discomfort. I should have been able to ignore it." 

"You can still ignore it," Ifurita said. "That's what I found out after Makoto freed me. You can even ignore pain. But you have to *choose* to ignore it. That's the difference." 

"But why would you choose to do this?" 

"It only hurts for a second," Ifurita said, now lazily propelling herself from one end of the little pool to the other. "But after that, it really feels wonderful." 

Erinyes stepped back down onto a rock that was just half a foot below the surface. She winced, an expression that deepened when she stepped down with the other foot. "I find that... hard to believe." 

Maybe she'll respond to another harmless challenge, Ifurita thought. "If you don't want to that's fine. I'll just enjoy looking at you." 

Erinyes caught herself as she was involuntarily covering herself. She scowled. "Very well, I will join you." She stepped off the submerged rock into the deep part of the pool and disappeared under the surface with a splash. She emerged almost instantly with a much bigger splash and a much, much louder noise. 

When the echo died, Ifurita asked, "Why did you make that loud noise?" 

"Because it's COLD!" 

Ifurita chuckled lightly. "You'll get used to it very quickly. Why don't you take your hair out of your eyes?" 

"My sonar is adequate to the task of navigation," Erinyes said more loudly than was necessary. 

So that is what they call sarcasm, Ifurita thought. "That's good. I would feel terrible if you got lost in this pool on my account." 

"What?" For some reason, Erinyes suddenly felt compelled to clear her hair away and look Ifurita in the eye. "Ifurita, that's ridiculous. How could we get lost?" 

"I believe that is what Makoto would call a joke. It's a difficult concept. The best way I can describe it simply is to call it negative information." 

"What is its purpose?" 

"I think it's a way to understand other people better. Very much like swimming together." 

"Then it's useless to me," Erinyes said sharply. Suddenly she was avoiding Ifurita's gaze. 

Ifurita breast-stroked the short distance between them, then tread just in front of her. "Erinyes," she said softly. Finally, the dusky Demon God glared at her. "Erinyes, I'm truly sorry that I can't stay with you. I really wish that I could. But I have to keep my promise to Makoto. He is life to me. One day, when you've found a soul-mate, I know you'll understand. I know it will be hard for you, being alone. But consider, I've given you what I learned from the Eye of God. If you don't find what you're looking for on this world, there are many others." 

"I don't know what to look for," Erinyes said bitterly. 

Ifurita sighed. "I'm just starting to realizing how lucky I was. I met my reason for existing even before my free will was returned to me. I never had to go look for it. I even got the satisfaction of revenge against my former master." 

"You said that you didn't kill him." 

"I did far worse, I wounded his pride." Ifurita suddenly scrunched up her eyes and giggled. 

"Was that... a joke?" 

"Erinyes, give me your hand." Ifurita raised her hand up at water level, fingers apart. Erinyes understood she wanted to initiate a link. She brought up her own hand and they linked fingers. Now with the ease of practice Ifurita sent her an image of the moments just after Makoto had freed her from the talisman. Her arm whipping back and casually knocking Jinnai across the room. Jinnai leaping up off the floor, his face beet red, blood pouring from his nose, his eyes wild and demented, his mouth rapid-firing a stream of oaths and curses, his fist shaking impotently. 

Ifurita severed the link. Erinyes was staring at her in wide-eyed astonishment. "That was..." 

"Funny?" 

"Yes." They wolf-grinned at each other. Then suddenly they were both laughing. Ifurita forgot to tread water... she had been doing it on her own instead of engaging autonavigation. Her implant-laden body slipped below the surface. She came up sputtering and laughing even harder. When they were done, a smile remained on Erinyes' lips. "But Ifurita, did Makoto not still count Jinnai among his friends?" 

"Makoto has a very generous heart." 

"I imagine he would have to, with friends like that." 

"I believe his people have a saying, something like 'With friends like this we've no need for enemies.'" 

Erinyes' expression sobered. "Do you not fear for him, being left behind on a world with such people?" 

"No. His true friends are there to help and protect him. Once I have kept my promise, I know he will keep his." 

"You truly believe he can do it?" 

Ifurita smiled. "In a world where even a Demon God can find love, I think that anything is possible." 

Erinyes considered that in silence for a moment. "Ifurita, you were right about swimming." 

"How so?" 

"It clears the mind. I had no idea what I would be looking for in all those worlds I can go to now. But now I know. I'm looking for a soul-mate." 

Despite the chill of the water, Ifurita felt a warm glow build around her heart, wash over her body. Makoto, is this what you felt when you knew you had set me free? "I truly hope you find one." 

"Do you think that one will be enough?" 

Ifurita nearly sank below the surface again. She couldn't explain why she found that so funny, she wasn't quite sure herself. 

---------- 

It was obviously with mixed feelings that Erinyes told her the chamber's power systems were now fully charged. 

"I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you longer," Ifurita said, meaning it. 

Erinyes smiled, shook her head. "What you've given me is more than I can ever repay. I feel bad that I can't even rejuvenate you at all." 

"Our power systems are incompatible. That's why I must do this now, while I still have enough of my strength." 

"Are you ready?" 

"Yes." Ifurita stepped onto the platform and turned to face Erinyes. The braces that would hold her here for the next ten thousand years slid out of the wall behind her with a click, gently holding her in place. "I... expect we won't meet again." 

"I expect not. When you meet Makoto, please tell him how grateful I am, for what he's given both of us." 

"I will." Ifurita put out her hand. "Farewell, my friend." 

Erinyes hesitated a moment, then slowly reached for Ifurita's hand, clasping it tightly. "Farewell... my sister." 

By the time Erinyes closed the chamber, the tears had traced twin tracks of silver down Ifurita's ivory cheeks. As her systems shut down it occurred to her that her tears of joy would be frozen there until she awoke. Which was entirely appropriate. 

End Chapter One 

Next Chapter: The Road Home 


	2. Default Chapter Title

This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction based on the El Hazard series. Note that it is based on the continuity of the two OAV series and the second television series "The Alternative World". It certainly contains spoilers for the first OAV series, and a few for the second OAV series. At this point, six chapters are planned. Though I call them "chapters" they are more or less independent stories (which is what I said about my Sailor Moon stories, so you're free to believe as much of that as you like). 

El Hazard and characters therein were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura, and brought to North America by Pioneer LDC. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply. I'll give this one a PG rating. 

Ken Wolfe 

Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca 

El Hazard - Earth Chapter 2 "The Road Home" 

Makoto supposed that this corridor had not been used since the Eye of God had been constructed, so long ago. He couldn't help thinking of it as a service corridor, though certainly no service had been done to this machinery since it was built. It was all automatic, needing only the call of two pretty young princesses to do its work. A world-crusher operated by remote control. The widely spaced portholes and dim glow-lamps provided just enough light for Makoto to see by. Which was just as well, there wasn't much to see. The colossal ribs of the floating globe swept by in perfect monotony. Makoto would never have known where he came in if he hadn't painted a bright white sign beside the right door. The corridor wound uninterrupted around the entire circumference of the Eye of God. 

Which made it just a dandy place for distance running. 

He had found this corridor just days after moving in. Since then, this had become his daily regimen. There was no sound save his laboured breathing and the soft slapping of his feet on the floor. It was some strange ceramic material that was not cold to the touch, so he had found bare fee to be best. Proper running shoes was one of the things he missed. 

He was just beginning to appreciate the metaphor this represented for him. Running to exhaustion and going in circles. 

The white sign came up sooner than he had been expecting. Which was a good sign, he was not as winded as when he first started doing this. He came to a stop in front of the sign, taking air in deep, measured breaths. He turned the little sand-glass he kept there and took his pulse. Not too shabby, especially considering the altitude he was doing this at. 

Two long flights of stairs took him down to what was serving as his living quarters. The decor could best be described as the industrial style, something the scattered rugs and furniture did little to mitigate. But there was certainly no shortage of space here. Whatever their original purpose, these towering chambers were even bigger than the royal bedchambers in the palace far below. The enormous rooms had looked impossibly bare when he first moved in here. But over the months the books and papers and machinery had quickly accumulated. These days it was looking very busy. 

Makoto stepped out of the loincloth that was his only jogging attire and kicked it into the dirty laundry bin. At his touch the nearby door slid ponderously aside, and he was met by a gust of warm, humid air as he walked into his makeshift bathing facility. When he had begun his serious study of the Eye of God he soon found it had two things in great abundance: power and water. Even in its dormant state the Eye generated colossal amounts of power, presumably to keep it aloft. And there were vast reservoirs of water throughout, which appeared to be replenished by rainwater of all things. As far as he could guess, it was used for ballast or cooling or for all he knew the thing used hydrogen fusion as backup power. Whatever the case, diverting minuscule amounts of these resources to make his life here a bit more comfortable had been an interesting little project. One of the little victories that kept him sane, diverted him from his monumental failure. 

After scrubbing himself he soaked for a few minutes in the tub that was almost too hot to bear. Then a quick dip in the cold tub and a long soak in the warm. This was another thing he had missed in the palace. The Rostalian idea of bathing allowed only for water kept strictly at body temperature, the womb concept. Which was fine as far as it went, but it didn't get the blood flowing quite like a proper three-tub treatment. It had taken him a while to set up relative flow rates from his hot and cold water reservoirs to get it just right. Not that he minded, it had felt good to get his hands dirty and muck around with some simple machinery. 

When he felt all the tension drained out of him, Makoto got out of the tub and walked over to the air vents where the air was a bit cooler. He did some stretching exercises in front of the polished metal surface that served as a full-length mirror. He admitted he had to agree with Nanami's recent assessment, he no longer looked like he had one foot in the grave. After three years he'd settled out an inch or so taller than when he'd arrived at El Hazard. But a year ago that height had done nothing but emphasize the skin and bones he'd reduced himself to. Now he was lean instead of emaciated, and his mop of black hair was no longer that shoulder-length rat's nest. His brown eyes had lost the haunted look. It had been a long, hard climb out of that pit. Not a day went by that he didn't think about how grateful he was. To everybody. 

Makoto grabbed a white cotton towel on his way out and walked across his living space to the outer exit, drying himself as he went. There were no proper windows on this whole colossal structure, just a few translucent portals that offered hardly more than a complement to the glow-lamps. The only way to get a good view outside was to open a hatch and go onto one of the outside platforms. He had chosen this place to settle because of its proximity to one of these. A short walk down a dark corridor brought him to another of the featureless grey vault doors that sealed off the globe's endless chambers. If it was a sunny day, he'd get dressed and go check his flying-fish traps. It was good to have fresh meat now and then. He palmed the door open and squinted as he walked out into the morning light, shivering slightly at the stiff breeze that met him. 

Afura Man waved casually from the wicker chair where she sat. "Morning." 

Makoto was still embarrassed at the way his voice went up an octave whenever an involuntary shout was coaxed from him. But he was far more embarrassed by the fact that his towel happened to be draped over his shoulders just at the moment. It took him about one second to rectify that. "Gods Afura, can't you knock?" 

"Knock on what, that vault door? Sorry, I didn't bring a hammer and I didn't feel like barging in so I waited." 

Makoto fumed as he folded his towel more securely around his waist. If she wasn't smiling so gleefully her claim of innocence might have held more weight. She was in her priestess' uniform, a form-fitting bodysuit in two shades of bluegreen. Her short cape and black ponytail fluttered in the little gusts of wind that made their way onto the platform. The whistling that the high-altitude winds coaxed from the Eye's superstructure spoke of how wise Makoto had been in choosing a platform enclosed on all sides but one as his balcony. "Is everything okay?" 

"Everything is fine." She didn't lose her grin. "But you're looking a little flushed, are you feeling poorly?" 

"Uh, no." Makoto could feel his cheeks burning. "I just got out of the bath. And I went for a run." 

"That's good. You're doing that every day now?" 

"Yep. Once around the Death Star every morning." 

"The what?" 

"Earth cultural reference." 

"Oh." Afura shrugged. "Well, it's good to see you looking so..." her eyes wavered just a fraction, "healthy." 

Makoto found himself pining for Shayla's far more direct style of flirtation. "So what can I do for you this morning?" 

Afura cocked her head, regarded him with a disapproving frown. "Surely you couldn't have forgotten." 

Makoto caught himself before saying *forgotten what?* Okay, stall for time while you think. "Let's see, today is-" 

"Rune's birthday." 

Makoto slapped his forehead. His other hand still kept a firm grip on the towel. Afura didn't quite look disappointed. "Is it that day already?" 

Afura sighed. "I thought there wasn't any point in bringing you that calendar." 

"I'm sorry. Could I bother you to drop me off at the bazaar?" 

"Why do you think I came here so early? We can both go shopping." 

"I'll just go get dressed. Come on in." 

Afura followed him into the dark corridor. "This seems like such a waste," Afura said. "Your home is up among the clouds but you're cooped up in this crypt." 

"I try to spend more time out in the sun now." 

"I can see that, your complexion's improved." 

"Right. No longer the God-Demon's phantom." 

"No, these days the palace busybodies are calling you the Phantom of God's Eye." 

Makoto chuckled. "Maybe the Mote in God's Eye would be more appropriate." 

"Do you feel like a mote?" Afura challenged. 

"No. But after being here a while it's a challenge not to." 

"Then you should come down more often." 

"I do when I can." By silent agreement the argument came to an amicable end. Before moving in here he had promised Afura he would make time to join his friends for all birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and festivals. He had kept his promise, even when he needed a gentle reminder. They emerged into his apartment. "Just make yourself at home, I'll be back shortly." 

"Do you need any help picking out something?" 

"You *know* my formal clothes are stored in the palace. I'll just get something for our shopping trip then change for the party when we get there." 

Afura shrugged. "Okay, I'll *try* to find some place to sit down." She was exaggerating, despite the mess there were plenty of chairs. A few trips in a small merchant cutter had brought his furnishings and provisions. Pilots being a very superstitious lot they had balked at landing on the Eye of God itself. Eventually Makoto had to ask little Alielle to help him. Princess Fatora's mistress was not exactly an experienced pilot, but much of her short experience had literally been under fire. So with Afura to read the winds for her, the supply missions had gone smoothly. 

Makoto changed quickly in his bedroom, choosing some light trousers and black muscle shirt. He returned to find that Afura had found herself a place to sit. "I've already eaten, but can I get you anything?" 

"Thank you, I'll pass. I just can't stomach the idea of eating something that's been frozen solid." 

"Well, that's what's made it practical for me to stay here at all." There were parts of the Eye of God that were kept far below freezing. Whether for superconductors or some reason beyond Makoto's fathoming, it had provided a fine means of keeping most of Makoto's provisions. "Something to drink before we go? Uh, it's a bit early for wine so..." 

"Tea would be fine, thanks." 

Makoto poured them both a cup from the water he always kept heated. They went to sit amidst the chaos of his main work room. "It's hard to tell, but it looks like not much has changed here since my last visit." 

"I haven't been working on it much in the past few days," Makoto said. He smiled at Afura's poker face. "Aren't you going to say 'good'?" 

"It is good," Afura said seriously but gently. "You've found your center again. When your healing is complete, you'll finally be ready for the task you've set yourself." 

Makoto sighed. "Maybe." 

Afura regarded him for just a moment. She took another sip from her cup, set it down and leaned forward. "Makoto, the first time you lost hope none of us saw the signs until you were too far gone to care. I don't want to see that happen again. None of us do. Please, if something is troubling you then share it with us." 

Makoto knew this moment would come, had prepared himself for it. He looked away and composed his thoughts for a moment before replying. "Afura, coming here *was* a good idea, despite what everyone thinks. What I've learned from the Eye has let me go way beyond what had stymied me back then. But I've run into another brick wall. There's nowhere to go. I'm stuck." 

"Tell me about it. Maybe that will help." 

Makoto smiled. He knew what she was doing, and was grateful. When he'd been holed up in his little cubbyhole in the palace, she would often come to ask him what problem was vexing him. She hardly ever said anything while he was explaining the most recent puzzle of space and time he was trying to unravel. But more often than not just the act of trying to explain it in simple terms had helped him see the problem in a new light, attack it from another direction. He nodded. "Okay. Come with me." 

When he'd been in the palace, Ifurita's staff had been under lock and key and guarded day and night the few times Makoto was not with it. Understandably, Makoto's adopted country treated it much as his native country might have treated a nuclear warhead. Up here, where only the Priestess of the Wind could drop in uninvited, Makoto just reached up and took the staff from the hooks on the wall he'd made for it. He held it at his side by the balance point between the two large translucent globes, and led his guest further into the interior of the Eye. "Watch your head." The corridor they were in was much like the one Ifurita had fallen down, the difference being that here at the "equator" of the Eye it was horizontal. Bulky machinery thrust out from floor, walls and ceiling at intervals, they had to weave and duck their way around them. 

"We're not going to the core, are we?" Afura asked nervously. 

"No, just to the first power terminal. We're almost there." 

The terminal looked like two flat black parallel cylindrical stalks, thrust out from the corner formed by wall and floor at forty-five degrees. Each was truncated by a featureless circle almost a foot wide, of the same material but polished to a smoother finish. "They look something like the terminals we used to unseal the Eye," Afura commented. 

"I'm betting they're pretty much the same." Makoto placed his hand on the circle nearest him. Immediately, the glowing blue lines of power snaked up his fingers and across the terminal, making look like Makoto's hand had just taken root. The phenomenon did not phase him at all any more. "You can use the other one." He smiled encouragingly when she hesitated. "You just have to establish the link like you did when the three of you unsealed the Eye. I'll do the rest." 

"What will happen?" 

"You'll see the world as the Eye sees it. I'll go first." He closed his eyes and projected himself into the terminal. His sight returned... but it was not the steel corridor around him that he saw. 

A moment later, Afura's image appeared next to him. She gasped and her image wavered, her astonishment almost causing her to lose the link. After a minute she finally spoke. "All those twisting lines... there must be thousands of them. Are these the wormholes you spoke of before?" 

"Yes. We can't see them, but space is full of them. Each one of those links El Hazard to another world. They also go through time, many going far into the past and the future." 

Afura shook her head. "You said their numbers were legion, but I never imagined this." The blackness they floated in was filled with the gently swaying white lines. She pointed to a spot in front of them. "What is that?" 

"That's the center of El Hazard." It seemed all the lines they could see ended in a spot right in front of them. Scale was meaningless here, it could have been just out of reach or more distant than the sun. The spot where they converged was almost like a sun in itself, the wormholes all merging together into a gently glowing white mass. "The endpoints tend to congregate at the core of whatever world they settle onto." 

"If that is the center of the world, why does it not appear below our feet?" 

"It took me a while to figure that out. It's level with us because these endpoints of the wormholes occupy the same time as us. Here we are not seeing space as we normally do." He pointed up. "All those wormholes lead to the future." He pointed down. "All those lead to the past." 

"If they're all in the center of the world, how can you use them?" 

"They can be coaxed to the surface with a small application of force. That's what the Eye does. Let me show you." He reached out the astral projection of his hand. He concentrated. It happened so suddenly it was like it just appeared there. A brightly glowing line appeared just above his outstretched palm, writhing as if upset at having been wrenched from its natural resting place. "This is the wormhole that Ifurita used to bring me to El Hazard." 

"Makoto, you *found* it?" 

He smiled. "More like it found me. I seem to have some natural link with this wormhole, presumably because I passed through it. I can bring it to me at will." 

"Then, you've done it..." Afura's voice trailed off as she saw Makoto's smile fade. 

"Let me show you something else." He raised his other hand, which contained the astral image of Ifurita's staff. Another wormhole leaped out of the slowly writhing mass in front of them, this time lodging just above the key-shaped head of the staff. "I soon found that this one has a natural affinity for the staff, just as the first is attracted to me." 

"The one that Ifurita took to your world's past!" Afura blurted. 

"That's what I thought. I started experimenting with sending energy pulses into the wormholes... not enough to open them, just to prove I could do it in a controlled fashion. Watch what happens." There was a flash of light over Makoto's palm. It was instantly answered by a flash all along the wormhole... and many other wormholes besides. Makoto sent two more pulses, to make it a bit clearer what was happening. 

He let Afura consider that for a moment. When she spoke, it was with some hesitation. "Those other ones that lit up... they're from your Earth?" 

"Yes. Now watch again, I'll do the same with the wormhole that Ifurita disappeared through." This time the pulse of light appeared over the staff, and was answered in similar fashion. Again, he repeated it twice for emphasis. "Did you notice anything?" 

He saw growing comprehension in her face... and worry. "The ones that pulsed were different. And they were all below us." 

Makoto nodded. "She didn't get sent back to my world, Afura. She got sent to the past of a different world altogether. And it's like all the wormholes to the future of that world are closed to me. I can go pick her up any time I want, all I have to do is get there just before she arrives and wait. She won't have to wait even a day, never mind ten thousand years. If I go there, I'll meet Ifurita, but it won't be the one who sent me here." 

---------- 

Afura just stared at the Earthling, letting the implications of his words seep in. "This explains much," she breathed. At his puzzled expression she shook her head. "I understand little of this, but it explains much about you, Makoto. I could tell you'd made a breakthrough that might lead you to Ifurita... when you spoke of her it was no longer with agony but with anticipation. I had wondered why you weren't telling us anything." 

"I want so much to just do it," Makoto said. He was no longer hiding his frustration. "To bring her back home and damn the consequences. I've been trying to think of what that would mean." 

Afura could see he was holding something back. "Makoto, what is it you are afraid of?" she asked gently. 

It took him a moment to work up the courage to answer. He spoke stiffly, struggling to keep his emotion in check. "The last time we fought Jinnai we found out there were many Demon Gods made in the same image as Ifurita." 

Afura saw the problem right away. "But Makoto, only one of them can be the woman you set free. If you meet her and she knows you, then she is the one." 

Makoto's stony expression did not waver. "I'll never forget the last time I saw the Ifurita who helped us defeat Kalia. She smiled at me, and told me I must go and find my Ifurita. There was something in her manner... she *knew* how my Ifurita and I feel about each other. I had thought it was because she shared the same feelings with Yuba Yurius, the man who had set her free. But now, I can't help feeling that somehow she knows, they *all* know the same things. At least at some level." 

Afura could see he was getting upset. "Makoto-" 

"Even if she knows me and I bring her back here I'll never be sure!" he interrupted. "What if the Ifurita who sent me here and the one who saved us all from the Eye of God are two different people? Do I have to choose? Do I have to abandon one of them? I don't even know if it makes sense to ask the question!" 

His image suddenly flickered and vanished. Afura felt just the barest twinge of panic before she realized what happened. He had lost his concentration, lost the link. She willed her own consciousness to sever her link with the Eye of God, return to the physical realm. The dim steel corridor appeared around her once again, it just took a moment to get oriented again. Makoto was standing beside her, his bent form clinging to the staff for support, his bowed face hidden from her view. He quivered at each shuddering breath. His astral form had only given hints of the state he was in. Afura feared he had hurt himself in the link somehow. She reached out and took a grip on his shoulders firm enough to support him if he needed it. "Makoto, are you okay?" 

He lifted his tear-streaked face to her. "Afura, I don't know what to do." His eyes pleaded more eloquently than his cracking voice. 

"Right now, I think you should sit down for a moment." She guided him over to a small boxy piece of machinery that emerged from the floor nearby. It would serve as a stool. She let him sit down and crouched down in front of him. "Makoto, I want you to do something for me, okay? I want you to close your eyes and recite in your head the mantra I taught you last year." 

He nodded weakly. His downcast eyes closed. After a moment, his lips began to move rapidly. Snatches of the difficult mantra came out as a soft whisper. His brow knit as he struggled to remember. But she could see that was helping him. His shaking subsided, his breathing came back down to normal. By the time he was done, it was no longer a struggle. 

When he opened his eyes, she didn't need to ask if he was feeling better. "Makoto, I wish you'd told us about this earlier. Keeping your troubles bottled up is what drove you to your collapse in the first place." 

"I know." He was cradling the staff to him like a child. She had seen him do it many times before, knew full well what it represented for him. "I just couldn't see how anybody could help this time. It's a paradox, pure and simple. There is no solution." 

"Well why don't I play Socrates like I did before." 

Makoto actually smiled. During his first year here, she had often asked him to talk of his own world. Her interests leaned towards history and philosophy, so she ended up learning much about ancient Greece, which as far as she could gather was the first civilization on his Earth worthy of the name. In his second year, when she and the others had been helping him recover from his depression, she had often adopted the role of Socrates, asking him questions meant to get him out of a rut. 

It didn't look like Makoto was going to answer. One wasn't needed. "Okay, how about this. If you really believe that each Ifurita you met shares the same memory, then in fact they are the same person and it doesn't matter whether you get her back from your world or this other one." 

Makoto shook his head. "Sharing memories doesn't make them the same person. You might as well say that Ifurita and I are the same person." 

"If they are two different people, then obviously you should bring both of them home. They'll both be waiting for you, after all." 

Makoto didn't answer. Afura sighed and laid a hand on his knee. "Makoto, you don't really believe they're two different people, do you?" 

"No." 

"There is one and only one Ifurita who knows and loves you." 

"Yes." 

"Okay then. Ifurita had the power to send you and your friends here to Earth. Maybe she had the power to travel from wherever she ended up to your world." 

"I've thought of that. She would have had no direct link with my own world, no way to distinguish it from the countless others. You saw that forest of wormholes." 

"Maybe that's what took her ten thousand years." 

He shook his head. "No, not in her state." He lifted the staff slightly. "Not without this. She would have drained her energy long ago trying to do that." 

"You've told me that there were other worlds near yours, hot and cold ones devoid of life. Perhaps she ended up there and simply flew to your world." 

"Even if she'd ended up on Earth's moon, I'm sure that journey would have been more than she could manage." 

Afura sighed. "Then we've got to figure out how she could be on your world and another world at the same time." She smiled. "You don't think there's another world out there called 'Earth' do you?" 

Makoto started to smile, then suddenly his face lit up with something Afura could not name. His wide eyes bore into hers. "What did you say?" he breathed. 

"Forgive me Makoto, it was a frivolous question." It looked like he hadn't heard. Afura still could not name what she saw in Makoto's face, it was like his whole universe had suddenly turned upside down before his eyes. 

Quick as a cat Makoto leaped up off the stool and ran for the terminal. 

Still crouching, Afura had to break her fall with her hand, he had nearly bowled her over. It took a couple of seconds to regain her balance and get to her feet. "Makoto, what are..." His hand was already upon the left terminal, the glowing blue veins of power linking him with it. She hissed an oath that had not passed her lips since having her mouth washed out with soap as a child. In one leap she landed at the terminal beside Makoto's and slammed her palm down on it, making the link far more quickly than what was considered advisable. 

She emerged into a universe that was pulsing like a heart. A writhing mass of wormholes were grasped in Makoto's fist. His hand flashed with a steady rhythm of the light bursts she had seen him send down the wormholes before. Only now it seemed as if he was setting half the Universe afire. "Makoto, what are you doing?" she asked sharply. 

His gaze was locked on something below their feet. He still had that haunted look that was somewhere between wonder and horror. "These are all the wormholes that lead back to the world Ifurita sent me here from," he explained, his bent head not rising from its fixed gaze. "Look below us and tell me what you see." 

Well at least he sounds lucid, Afura thought. She did as he had asked and looked straight down. She looked around to make sure of what she was seeing, then down again. "The ones that are pulsing... none of them goes straight down. The sky over our head is full of them, but the ones going down are all at a shallow angle." There was what Afura would describe as a hole or cone of calm below their feet, an eye in the storm Makoto was causing. 

Suddenly the storm stopped. Afura looked just on time to see the wormholes jump from Makoto's opening hand back to their resting place in front of them. She felt infinitely relieved. She had been unable to shake the notion that Makoto's rattling of the warp and woof of space would attract the attention of some enraged god. He finally looked at her. She found his gaze disturbing. "The vertical dimension represents time here," he explained tonelessly. "The steeper the angle, the farther in time. There are wormholes that lead to the far future of my world, maybe millions or billions of years. But none that lead any further into the past than Ifurita was sent. My world has no past before then. The world that existed before then was a different one, and its future is now closed to me." 

Afura tried to find some meaning in this madness. "Could that past simply be closed to you?" she asked meekly, not sure if that made any sense. 

Makoto shook his head. "Now what I saw on that other world makes sense to me." 

"Other.... Makoto, you've been going to other *worlds* without telling anybody?" 

"I don't really go there, just send my astral projection to the other end of the wormhole and come right back. I call it the bungee cord manoeuvre. Oh, a bungee cord, that's..." He rasped in frustration. "It's easier to show you." The globes of the staff he held glowed, and he seemed to be reading something there. Suddenly there was a wormhole embedded in the upper globe. Afura was startled when Makoto took the hand of her astral body. Her eyes went wide with terror. "Makoto, wait-" 

The Universe flashed by her at insane speed. 

---------- 

Afura floated in darkness, more terrified than she'd been even the first time she had ever trusted the winds to keep her aloft. She mused that if it had been Makoto's real hand she clasped instead of his astral one she would have crushed bones long ago. 

Her eyes were adjusting to the dark. There was something out beyond the swirling wisps of silvery glowing gas that wrapped them tightly. Below them was a desolate landscape barely illuminated by what little light seeped through the oppressive dark grey clouds above. "Makoto, what in the name of all that's holy have you done?" 

"I found this world some time ago," he said, gazing out over the black desolation. "I've been here twice since. I suspected what it was, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it. Look at that city down there, and tell me if I'm crazy." 

City? She looked below where they floated. She began to see regular patterns in what she had assumed to be a crazy landscape of tumbled rocks. She could see the shells of collapsed buildings, could trace the outlines of rubble-strewn streets. She frowned, feeling that she was missing something. Something in the pattern of this dead city's layout. 

It was like a knife through her body. This was Floristica. 

After a few moments, she was finally able to speak. "Makoto... is this our future?" 

"No. This is the true present of El Hazard. The one where I never appeared. The one the Phantom Tribe used the Eye of God to turn into a lightless hell." 

Afura recited a brief mantra to clamp down on her overwhelming horror, at least enough so that she could speak. "Makoto, I beg you, take us back." 

Makoto looked at her as if noticing her for the first time. His stern, purposeful look wavered just a little. "Yes, of course." They were suddenly in freefall among a blizzard of stars again. Then they were back in the forest of wormholes again. The very instant Makoto released her hand she savagely cut her link with the Eye. 

Afura staggered over to the wall and leaned her back against it, panting. A moment later Makoto was in front of her, a worried expression coming to his face. "Afura, are you hurt?" 

She waved off his concern, brought her screaming nerves under control. "Makoto, what did you mean that was the true present of El Hazard?" 

"That was a poor choice of words. It was another El Hazard." 

"What do you mean?" she snapped. "Where did that... *other* El Hazard come from?" 

"It's more a matter of where ours came from," he explained. Incredibly, his calm words seemed to be tinged with the excitement she saw in him whenever he discovered something new. "It's like when we were talking about time paradoxes long ago, do you remember? Like what happens if you go back in time and prevent yourself from being born. There's only one way to resolve the paradox. Two worlds. Two Earths. Two El Hazards. Two entire universes." His expression sobered just a little. "Or maybe thousands. Maybe an infinite number." 

Afura slid down the wall and her rear hit the floor hard. She barely noticed the pain. 

When she became more or less aware again, Makoto was crouching down beside her, his placid face showing just a sad, apologetic little smile. "I'm sorry Afura, I forgot how scary travelling the wormhole was the first time. Are you okay?" 

Afura knew for an absolute certainty that she would never, ever have another sound night's sleep as long as she lived. "Yes, I'm fine." 

That seemed all he needed to perk him up. "Afura, I can't thank you enough for helping me find the truth. It's all clear to me now." 

"It is?" she asked weakly. 

He nodded eagerly. "The Eye of God was originally supposed to be a time machine, I'm sure of it now. They wanted to go back in history, probably change things in their favour. But somewhere along the line they must have understood what it was really doing, so they gave up and turned it into a different sort of weapon." 

"What it was really doing?" Afura asked, her creeping dread dulled by numbness. 

"Every time the Eye of God powers up and fires, it triggers a splitting of its universe in two. It creates a second universe with a different past and a different future. Ifurita was sent ten thousand years into the past, but she never appeared there. She appeared in the new Universe that was created by the Eye of God!" 

Afura shivered. A new Universe? Just because she had agreed to unseal the Eye of God? "Makoto, do you know what that means?" she asked with a tremulous voice. 

He grinned like a little boy. "It means I can go back to where I came from, where my Ifurita is waiting for me." 

In that moment Afura decided that young people in love were the most dreadful force in all of creation. All the works of gods and men trembled at their hand, nobody and nothing could stand before them. They would run roughshod over worlds and stars with not even a backward glance. 

"Afura, did I say something wrong?" 

How to explain to a man for whom a Universe was nothing but a pathway to his lost love? "No, I guess it's just sunk in that you've done it. You've solved the riddle of the Eye of God." She managed to smile. "I'm very happy for you Makoto." It was the truth, but for reasons she dare not name she wanted him to absolutely, positively know that it was the truth. 

"Thank you." Makoto stood up, suddenly looking very pensive. "I've still got to figure out a few things," he said, scratching his chin. "I have to make sure I don't arrive before I left, I don't want to even think of what that would do. But I want it to be soon in Earth time, I don't want her to wait any longer than she has to." 

Afura felt like she was stepping into the path of a speeding navy cutter, but she spoke anyway. "Makoto, why don't you give it a rest for today?" She stood up and smiled. "You've laboured three years for this, another day won't hurt, right?" 

She was relieved to see Makoto relax from his look of grim resolve. "You're right, we still have to go shopping don't we?" 

Right now, a shopping trip was about as profound an experience as Afura wished to deal with. 

---------- 

It was two days later that Makoto broke the news to everyone else. They had seen the profound change when Afura had brought him down from the Eye, so it hadn't come as that much of a surprise. 

Back when he had been impersonating princess Fatora he had almost become used to having the palace's ubiquitous maidservants hovering over him all day long. But he still absolutely, positively drew the line at the bathroom door. When he donned his loincloth and emerged from the elaborate bathing facility of his huge suite of rooms, the two girls were kneeling in exactly the same place on the bedchamber's marble floor they had been when he'd managed to detach himself from them. Moving as one they stood, bowed and moved to help him dress, their downcast eyes moving up only when required by their work. Rostalia was a country where it never really got cold, so like most rooms of the Palace this one was open to the outside, its broad archways and balconies admitting the morning sunlight and just a hint of the gentle breeze. It was less than obvious where the rooms ended and the gardens began. When the girls were done he glanced at the huge mirror nearby. The white robes seemed a bit elaborate. But then again, this was kind of like a wedding day. He turned to them and smiled. "Thank you very much." 

They bowed in the way they always did. Without a word, one left the room and the other went to hover by the door, where she would stay until summoned to some new duty. They betrayed no emotion, but Makoto could imagine what they were thinking. Presumably they had been briefed, but even if they had not the palace rumour mill had by now whispered to one and all that today the Demon God would return to Rostalia. 

After just a couple of minutes, the great double doors were silently swung open by the two guards outside the room. Makoto's guest entered and smiled warmly. "Good Morning, Makoto-san." 

"Good Morning, Rune-sama." He was relieved to see that the princess wore just a semi-formal everyday outfit, so she wasn't treating this as a state function. And she didn't look all that nervous. 

Rune Venus walked over to him, as always with all the poise and grace of a supermodel. But without the belligerent arrogance. The elder princess was such a contrast to her younger sister, who still seemed to think the world revolved around her. Makoto sometimes found Rune's manner cold, but he never, ever got the feeling that she looked down upon him, or upon any of her subjects. He felt grateful that somebody like her was in charge. 

"This really is a happy day," Rune said. "Your years of work will finally be bringing your heart's desire." 

"I have you to thank for it," Makoto said. "Without your support, I never could have made it this far." Many in her council had always been in favour of denying him access to the palace's libraries and especially to the Eye itself, feeling that his research was too dangerous. Some had even demanded that Ifurita's staff be taken from him and locked away. But even in the days when he'd been ravaged by fits of frustrated rage and others had doubted his sanity, she had steadfastly stood by him. 

"You and Ifurita saved our world. I cannot think of two people more deserving of being reunited, more deserving of happiness." 

Makoto fidgeted a little. He was still uncomfortable with all the praise so many people here wanted to heap on him, just as he was when they were bestowing him practically every title and honour the kingdom had to offer. He had fought to protect his friends and his loved one, just like the many others who had fought and died in the War. How could he have done otherwise? "I really hope everyone's okay with this way of handling it." 

"I think it's for the best." Rune said. "The less fanfare the better." 

Makoto agreed. But that wasn't what he meant. "I was thinking more of our friends." 

Rune's expression softened. "You mean Shayla-san and Nanami-san," she said in a gentle tone that wasn't a question. 

"Well... yeah. I guess." 

She smiled sympathetically. "You know, it is your love for Ifurita that makes them feel the way they do." Makoto had nothing but a blank stare to offer, so she continued. "I must confess on more than one occasion I've come across you in one or another of the gardens here. You would be staring off into space, seemingly at nothing in particular. But even if I had not known you I could have read your story just from your face. You were longing for the one you had been separated from, the only one who could bring you happiness. 

"Makoto, no woman who sees that look in the face of a man she knows can help but long to have him look thusly in her direction." Once again Makoto could articulate no answer. Rune blushed ever so slightly. "Forgive me, I fear I've spoken out of turn." 

"No, not at all," Makoto blurted. "Thank you. I mean, for explaining." 

"I think everyone understands that this is a day for you and Ifurita to share in private. I will intrude for only a short while." 

"It's no intrusion," Makoto assured her. He knew full well why she was here. He had promised himself he would not blame her, despite how he felt. 

"Do you need any time to prepare?" 

"No, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. With your permission." 

She nodded graciously. Makoto walked over to the wall and removed the real reason there were guards outside the door, overlooking the balconies and on the grounds below. He had explained that only he and Ifurita could do anything with the staff, but its very presence made a lot of people very nervous. Not surprising. After three years, much of the devastation it had wrought upon the frontiers of the Alliance had yet to be rebuilt. 

He and Rune walked into the large central sitting room of his suite, shadowed by the two servant girls. The other occupant that shared Makoto's room uncurled from his spot on one of the wide sunken sofas. Ula jumped up onto the sofa's back and sat on his haunches. "Makoto go back? Go back to Eye?" 

"No Ula. I'm going to pick up an old friend. I'll be back in a few minutes. You can just wait here." 

"Okay Makoto." The cat stayed where it was, observing the curious activities of the humans as he always liked to do. 

"You should probably wait here," Makoto said to Rune. She nodded, and he walked over to where the room opened onto the broad balcony. He turned to face the others. "Don't be alarmed if there's a bit of light and noise, that's normal." 

Rune smiled. "Safe Journey, Makoto-san. For both of you." 

"Thanks." Makoto closed his eyes and slipped into the link with practiced ease. A mere thought opened it to the dimensions that the Eye of God had taught him to see. Another thought directed it to reach out and seek the wormhole he wanted. In an instant, he had snared it. In the few seconds it took the staff to build up its power level, Makoto let his mind drift. 

*Why am I so calm?* It didn't seem right somehow. This was the moment the past three years had been leading up to. His heart ought to be in his throat, he ought to be sweating like a bridegroom. Perhaps for him the catharsis had come when he had solved the riddle of the Eye of God, when he finally knew - with confidence - that he could do this. After that, everything just seemed inevitable. He would go to Earth and bring back the woman he loved. He knew he could do it. And they knew each others' feelings as well as they knew their own... his gift - the link they shared - had seen to that. Maybe there just was nothing to be nervous about. 

The talisman stood ready. He opened the wormhole. 

---------- 

Ifurita's head slowly cleared. She was lying on the floor of her mausoleum. In front of the chamber in which she had slept the past ten thousand years. 

*I've done it. I've completed the circle of time.* 

Sending Makoto and his friends across time and space had cost her. The Demon God's implants, now drained of everything but the barest support functions, were now so much deadweight dragging her down. But the warrior's pride that was still a part of her refused the comfort that the ground offered. Slowly, painfully, she dragged herself to her feet. Her legs felt like rubber weighted down with lead. But they supported her. She shuffled over to the entrance of the mausoleum. Stopping a moment, she spared a glance at the hibernation chamber, now standing open. Her thoughts went to the one who had built this place, so long ago. A sad smile came to her lips. You must surely be long gone, Ifurita thought. I hope you had a good life, Erinyes. I hope you found what you were looking for, my sister. 

Ifurita stepped across the threshold of the mausoleum. When last she had passed through this door it led to the trench she had dug to expose it. Now there was a short tunnel. One that led to a wall that wasn't there before. Ifurita stepped gingerly up to the rough hole that had been pounded through that wall and peered outside. She was in a building. A staircase. Instruments of various sorts were strewn about, cables and floodlights and such, now all dormant. The only illumination was from a sign above a doorway. 

*Emergency exit door.* The words came into her head unbidden. This place should have looked alien, but it was familiar. She was remembering through his eyes. 

She climbed the flight of stairs that led to where the staircase opened up, slowly, leaning on the guardrail all the way. The moment she emerged into the hallway, she knew exactly where she was. 

Ifurita wandered through the school all night long. Just about every place, every room, held some memory for Makoto. Some memory that he had shared with her, allowed her to inhabit. She knew which desk he sat in... and which one they had together imagined she would be sitting in. Standing here now, she could picture all their friends sitting around them. If she stood here until morning, she could greet most of them by name as they arrived. 

Ifurita's face fell. How long would it be? How long would she have to wait for his return? The wormholes made time all but meaningless, but they did place limitations on what could be done. He might have to choose a time days from now. Or years. 

Ifurita wandered out onto the school grounds. She had met nobody in her wanderings. Naturally. The only people who had been here had been sent to another world. She walked through the grounds, now lit by the growing light of dawn. Here too, memories came to her at every turn. Becoming weary again, she came to an odd metal fence and rested against it. Ancient survival instinct began to tickle at the back of her mind, prompting her to assess her situation. She had the impression that Makoto's people were peaceable, but somewhat wary of outsiders. She considered her options. Perhaps she should seek out Makoto's mother and father. She knew how dearly he loved them. If it was going to be a long time before his return, they would be desperately worried. She owed it to Makoto to bring them the truth. Her story would seem a fantastical one. But the proof of it would be her own inhuman body. 

She was startled by a strange light. Then all thoughts of the future vanished. "Makoto..." 

He stood there amidst the wisps of shimmering mist that gently swirled around him. He was different, no longer a boy just emerging into manhood. His smile was warm, comforting, confident. The mist and the emerging dawn bathed him in a light that made his white robes glow like moonlight. He held the staff casually in the crook of one arm, held it with the easy confidence that a sword master held his blade. His eyes gently beckoned. He looked... beautiful. 

She should not have had the energy to run. But that was the least of the impossibilities for her to marvel at. It was impossible that a Demon God with the blood of millions on her hands could be granted such a sublime moment. It was impossible that any man or beast or machine could experience such joy and peace. Though she wanted it to last forever, to her enhanced time perception the distance between them closed with glacial slowness. To her regret, her tears blurred her image of the man she had waited ten thousand years to find. But her hand found his with perfect precision, and they clasped fingers an instant before she wrapped her arm around him and crushed him to her. She wept softly, drinking in his warmth like nectar. She felt him very gently wrap his arm around her, felt her talisman settle next to her. Its very proximity brought new life to her weary body. But that was as nothing to the way Makoto's presence had rejuvenated her. 

When her tears were mostly spent, she wanted to look at him again. She released his hand, gently lay her hands on his chest and looked up into his face. His smile was like a benediction. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he said softly. 

"You've... grown," she said in a husky voice that she could hardly recognize as her own. 

"Just a little." 

"It took you this long... and you still came. You didn't forget me." 

"A thousand days, almost exactly," he said. His smile broadened. "Not ten thousand years. But my thoughts were only of you, for each one of those thousand days." 

Ifurita could see it in his eyes. It had been difficult, a struggle. She had slept her time away in relative oblivion, he had laboured long and hard to make it here. "Thank you Makoto. You did all that just for me." 

"I did this for us. I love you. I want us to be together, always." 

"Oh...!" She could say nothing further. Inexplicably she had no control of her larynx and not all her backup control systems could get it back. He gently tilted her chin up with his free hand and leaned towards her. She responded automatically, just as she had those many times in their shared memories. When their lips met the reality was something altogether different. Her heart raced as it never had even in the midst of her most furious battles. Fire and ice chased each other up and down every nerve of her body. She floated, detached from the world more utterly than she had been while racing through the twisted corridors of warped spacetime. After an eternity, their lips parted and she opened her eyes. She was surprised to find the world in the same place that she had left it. Even more astonishing was the tear that trailed down Makoto's cheek. She reached up and with a touch more delicate than a butterfly landing she caught the tear on one gloved finger. She stared at it, utterly fascinated and awed. Water, the same saline content as seawater, nothing more. Yet the most precious gift of all. "Nobody has ever shed a tear for me before." 

He gently wiped away her own drying tears. "Nobody has ever shed so many for me." 

"Makoto..." His words to her filled her world, there simply were no others. "I love you. I never want to leave you again." 

He kissed her again. This one was but a signature planted on the first, leaving her with just a gentle tingling and a warm glow. "Are you ready to go home?" She nodded. He raised the staff up slightly. "Before we go, should I give you a power boost?" 

"No, I'm fine. Its proximity has given me enough." Which was true, as long as she didn't call upon any battle functions she would be fine. But in reality, she couldn't stomach the idea of having that thing stuck into her body, even by his hand. 

"Okay. Just hold on to me. I'll direct the talisman." She wrapped her arms across his back, snuggled close, marvelling at how good that felt. He gently kissed her ear. "Ifurita..." There was a bounce to his voice, a sort of playfulness. 

"Yes?" 

"I meant just hold on to my hand. This is rather... distracting." 

She chuckled lightly, infected by his mood. She stepped back and took his free hand. "I'm sorry." 

He kissed her hand and grinned. "Don't be sorry. I just want to make sure I get us to the right place." 

"Are we going to the Eye of God?" 

"No, I don't need the Eye for this. We're going to my room in the palace." He hesitated for just a second. "Rune Venus is waiting for us there." He squeezed her hand and smiled at the look of trepidation she gave him. "She wants to thank you for saving her kingdom." 

"She has every reason to hate me. They all do." 

His expression darkened. "Ifurita, I won't lie to you. Many people in Rostalia still fear you. But even they understand that the things you did were not your fault. You have nothing to be ashamed of." 

She had been so wrapped up in Makoto's return, she hadn't thought beyond that. "Your friends, are they well?" 

"Yes, everyone's fine. We've had a few troubles along the way, but I can tell you about those later. Are you okay to go now?" 

"Yes." 

He gazed into the large orb of the staff and it began to glow. Through their touch Ifurita could sense how easily it responded to his will now. Somehow, that made the talisman less sinister in her eyes. It had been a reminder of her past, but now it was a part of him as well. It was like his gentle touch had cleansed the key of her former prison, just as it had cleansed her. She felt the wormhole opening up. For a moment there was a floating sensation, then they were racing through a field of stars at a dizzying pace. In just a moment it was over, and they were standing in a different place. She recognized this as a room of the palace of Rostalia. And she also recognized the beautiful woman who stood watching them. 

Rune Venus walked closer and bowed. "Welcome back to Rostalia, Lady Ifurita. I am glad to see that you are well." 

For a moment, Ifurita was at a loss. Being treated with such respect by royalty felt surreal. Her kind had been programmed to abase themselves before their masters. Rune was greeting her as... 

As a human. 

Ifurita returned the princess' smile. "Thank you, your highness." It was heartfelt, she found herself hoping that Rune knew that. 

"Lady Ifurita, no words of mine could express how much we owe you. Our world would lie in darkness had you not saved us. You have our gratitude." 

Ifurita felt it inappropriate to point out she had done it all for Makoto's sake. "I am... happy I was able to help you." 

Rune's expression hardened. "I regret that on the very hour of your return I must ask you to serve us once again." 

Ifurita felt herself tense up. She glanced at Makoto. He looked troubled, but not surprised. Whatever this was, he had been expecting it. In her anxiety, she found herself falling back on ancient protocol. "How may I serve, Majesty?" 

"Since the War, the Alliance has become unstable. Though we were victorious, our armies were devastated, as were many of our cities along the frontier." Her eyes were now cold, accusing. "One of the strongest tribes, whose lands were least touched by the War, is now in open rebellion. Others may soon follow. Our forces yet lack the strength to march upon them. And the Eye is too unpredictable a weapon, I can only use it as a last resort. 

"Ifurita, I want you to show them what will happen to them if they do not submit to the rule of the Alliance. I want you to select one city in the rebel province and destroy it." 

---------- 

Makoto's deathgrip on the staff became painful. He barely noticed. As the words truly sank in, stunned disbelief soon gave way to blind rage. "Rune! Have you lost your mind?" 

Her cold gaze shifted over to him for but a moment, then back to Ifurita. "The Alliance requires this favour of you. Will you serve?" 

"This is *not* what we agreed!" Makoto shouted. "It's beyond all reason, beyond all need!" He had never raised his voice at her, not even back when he had been near madness. But now he felt he was facing a different person, he could not believe what he was hearing. 

The princess' steely gaze finally settled on him. "It is my place to decide what the Alliance needs." 

"Ifurita was to pledge her allegiance to you, just as I have! Nothing more! When the rebelling provinces see that, they'll fall into line!" 

"They will fall into line. After they feel the power of the Demon God." 

"You can't do this! You can't ask *her* to do this!" 

"She will, if you both wish to remain within my realm." 

This time Makoto was truly struck dumb. It was insane, Rune had been doing everything imaginable to avoid a confrontation with the rebels. He knew she had been reluctant to even threaten the use of a Demon God... 

"I will not." 

Makoto's head snapped around at the sound of that chilling voice. What he saw fit the voice perfectly. It was the Ifurita he had encountered when Jinnai had woken her. The soulless machine that had gone to systematically level most of the cities along the frontier. 

Rune's expression did not waver. It was like watching two tigers staring each other down. "You refuse?" 

"Yes." 

"Why?" 

"My powers no longer serve the ambitions of any man or woman. I will only use them to defend the one I love." 

"Then defend the kingdom he has pledged himself to." 

Ifurita glanced over to Makoto and her expression softened for just a fleeting moment. "Makoto would never ask me to do such a thing, even to save his life. If your enemies march upon this city I shall do all I can to defend it. But I will not slaughter innocents." 

"You slaughtered them readily enough when you fought for the Bugrom." 

"Damn you, Rune." Makoto's voice expressed more remorse than anger... grief at the death of a cherished friendship. 

Ifurita's fists clenched. Makoto could hear the fabric of her gloves creaking under the strain. The staff tickled his hand, resonating with its mistress' roiling anger. "I am free now. I need no longer carry out the orders of murderers." 

"That is your final word?" 

"It is." 

"I see. Then you leave me no choice. Since you have refused my request I must conclude that you are no longer a threat to my people. I name you a guest of the palace and give you leave to move about my realm as you will." 

The words had been delivered with the same toneless formality as her request to level a city. The cold reality of what had just happened settled down like a shroud. "Rune, was this really necessary?" he asked bitterly. 

The forlorn look she gave him was no longer cold. But it chilled him to the bone. "Makoto, my friend, if my tongue belonged to me alone I would cut it out rather than say the things I did today. But it does not belong to me, it belongs to my people." 

"But *why*?" Makoto asked angrily. 

"To be sure you were not loosing another Kalia upon us." 

Makoto turned at the sharp intake of breath he heard. Seeing such alarm and loathing in Ifurita's face was a shock. "Kalia... I never thought they'd be fool enough to build one. She has woken?" Her anger had been redirected like a ricochet. 

"She's dead," Makoto assured her. "It's a long story. But Kalia and the Trigger of Destruction are gone." 

"Makoto saved our world a second time," Rune said, addressing herself to the Demon God. "He told me the whole story. At the end he had tried to free her, just as he freed you. When he entered her heart, he found the image of a lonely young girl yearning to be set free. But the image was false, it hid only hatred and bloodlust. She had everybody fooled... even Makoto." 

Memories flashed through Makoto's head, suddenly taking on new meaning. Rune sitting in rapt attention, listening with apparent sympathy as he pored his heart out, telling her about the lonely soul he had tried to pull from the darkness but could not. And all the while she was calculating, planning. "Rune, how could you..." Makoto said, shaking his head in disbelief. 

"You love her and trust her. If it were only my life at stake, that would be enough." She turned to Ifurita again. "I am more ashamed than I can say, at the way I have treated you. But for the sake of my people, I had to be sure in my mind that you are the person Makoto believes you to be. I don't expect you to forgive me. I only hope you won't let this grievous insult tarnish your homecoming. I've watched Makoto grow into a man, watched him pour every fibre of his being into making this day a reality. I couldn't love him more if he were my own blood. I hope that you will both be happy, today and always." She bowed. "I have overstayed my welcome." With downcast eyes, she turned to walk away. 

Makoto could only watch her leave. He was far from being able to figure out how he felt about what had just happened. He turned to Ifurita and took her hand. "I'm sorry Ifurita, I had no idea she was going to do that. This isn't the homecoming I had hoped to give you." 

Ifurita looked to be miles away. "Makoto, that woman... she's trapped. Like I was." 

Makoto frowned. "What do you mean?" 

"She hurt her friend for the sake of her people. And she truly hates herself for it. Yet she *chose* to do it." She looked earnestly into Makoto's eyes. "Is this the meaning of... duty?" 

Ifurita's innocent question took the edge off of Makoto's anger. "In her eyes, I guess she was just doing her duty." 

Ifurita looked like she was in the midst of a revelation. "Remarkable. She truly does love you, Makoto. I can tell, when she speaks to you there is a resonance in her voice and the blood in her face..." she sighed. "It's complicated, but I can tell. Makoto, I could never trade your life for that of a whole world, even if you begged me to. She did something that I could not. She truly has a warrior's heart." 

Makoto smiled. He still wasn't sure if he could ever forgive Rune. But he knew that he would like to. Maybe in time. "She supported me when near everyone on her council wanted to leave you stranded on Earth. I shouldn't forget that." 

"Makoto, is the Alliance in danger as she said?" 

He was surprised by the question. "I think she exaggerated a bit. One of the tribes has declared independence and moved troops to their borders, but that's as far as it's gone." 

"Makoto, I think I should pledge allegiance to her as she asked." 

That also surprised him, until he thought about it for a second. "In fact that was what she had told me she was here to ask of you. I didn't like the idea, but I have to admit it might solve the problem. They'd probably back down and there would be no bloodshed. But Ifurita, what if they called your bluff?" 

"I will not kill innocents. But an invading army would be another matter. I could protect this land, keep its people from harm." There was a look of reverence in her face. "That is something I could truly be proud of. I could finally do something meaningful with my powers." 

"Speaking of which, I should return this to you." He held out the staff. 

She smiled and shook her head. "It is part of both of us now, not just me. We can put it aside for now." 

"Okay." Makoto went to place the staff on its stand against the wall. He backed away and looked at it. "You know, in all this time it's almost never been further away from me than this." 

Ifurita came up beside him, taking his hand. "Then I have never been any further from you than this." 

"Gods, I should have asked you before... you were hurt when the Eye of God fired, was it really bad?" 

"No. I healed quickly, and my implants repaired themselves." 

"But your outfit is a mess." 

She laughed. "I've found I rather enjoy going barefoot. But I must really be a sight." 

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Rune has given you a wardrobe that would weigh down the Eye of God. It's over in the adjoining suite of rooms." 

Ifurita frowned. "Then... I am not to stay with you?" 

"I guess they're leaving that up to us. Anyway, would you like to go wash up a bit?" 

"I suppose I should. Even after all this time, I still have the stench of battle upon me." 

Not that Makoto had noticed. "I'll ask the servants to help you get cleaned up, and maybe pick something out from that enormous closet." 

Ifurita moved up next to him. "Actually, I'd much prefer if you helped me." 

They both smiled. Makoto cradled her upturned face in his hands and gently kissed her. "I'd like nothing better." 

Makoto soon discovered that the servants had already made a discreet exit. Which of course meant he was the only help available. As it turned out, it was quite a long time before they got around to looking at Ifurita's new wardrobe at all. 

---------- 

Just as the breakfast crowd had about thinned out, a drowned rat dragged itself up to the bar. Nanami stared at it, her hands drying and stacking plates like nothing had happened. "Shayla, you look like shit." 

The drowned rat produced a coin and put it gingerly on the table. "One morning after special. Double," it said in a low, gravelly voice. "Absolutely no hair of the dog. And for the love of God stop making so much noise." 

Nanami sniffed. "I pride myself on how unobtrusively I serve my customers." She carefully put down the plate, scooped up the coin and went to mix up the concoction. It had become a fairly popular item, a formula Fujisawa Sensei swore on. Pretty dreadful stuff actually, but everyone agreed that it got the job done. She placed the tall ceramic tumbler full of murky liquid in front of Shayla. "There you go. That must have... been... some... binge... Gods, how do you *do* that? It takes me half an hour to force down half a glass." 

The priestess gingerly put down the empty glass. "It only hurts for a minute." 

The last guy who'd tried to down one of those all at once had ended up losing his breakfast all over the counter. Obviously Shayla was made of sterner stuff. Nanami took the glass and put it in the dishwater without even thinking. "Was there a party you didn't tell me about?" 

The redhead leaned forward on the bar and rested her cheek on her fist. "Nope. Just me and my bottle." 

"What, you're drinking alone now? That's a bad sign, Shayla." 

The young woman's bloodshot, half-open eyes betrayed no sign of reaction to the barb. "Didn't want to risk spilling the beans. Rune was adamant, nobody but me and Afura and Kauru to know until today." 

"Know what?" 

"He's done it. He's brought her back." 

It was the first time in nearly a year that Nanami dropped a plate. Shayla flinched at the sharp crack of ceramic shattering against stone tile, and her face screwed up in dismay. She groaned and buried her head in her hands. "Aw, why'd you have to go an' do that," she whimpered, barely audible. 

"When?" Nanami asked in a shrill whisper. "Where?" 

"Yesterday morning. In his room." 

"Yesterday *morning*? Well what on Earth have they been doing all this..." her voice trailed off. 

One expressionless green eye peeked out from between Shayla's hands. "Getting naked, I would assume." 

Nanami felt a flush come to her cheeks. "Shayla! Honestly, you can be so vulgar!" She quickly crouched down below the bar. With quick, sharp movements she began picking up pieces of ceramic and tossing them into the waste basket underneath. "So why was this such a big secret anyway? After all, we all knew he was going to try it soon, right? Just a matter of days, he said. We'd be the first to know, he said. I mean, of course they couldn't even step out of their room and say 'hi we're back Earth was nice' no that just would have been too much trouble." 

"Nanami?" 

She shot back up to her feet and put her fists to her hips. "What?" 

"I'm not buying any." 

Nanami felt righteous indignation building like a tidal wave. But it broke against Shayla's honest look of sympathy and understanding. There was no point in even putting up a pretence. She sighed heavily, her carefully nurtured fit of anger burst like a balloon. She massaged her forehead, rubbing away a headache that wasn't really there. It allowed her to close her eyes and escape the gaze of her counterpart, her mirror. "Damn. After all this time I could at least be happy for him, couldn't I? I feel like such a bitch." 

"That's what I was telling my bottle last night." 

Nanami stood silently for a while, her arms now crossed in front of her, staring down at the floor. "I guess I just didn't believe it. I mean, for the past three years this day has always been just around the corner. He's always been saying that, except..." She shook her head. It still hurt to think of the time he had given up. She had hoped he would give up permanently... and hated herself for it. "It really feels like this just dropped out of the blue." 

"To you and me both." 

Nanami met the young priestess' gaze again. She was looking a bit better now, with a double dose of Nanami's best tonic working through her system. "Have you seen them since they got back?" 

"No, only Rune has. She says they're both okay." 

Nanami hadn't even asked. Just how much worse could she feel about herself? "We should go tell the others. Fujisawa Sensei at least." 

"He's in the palace with Miz and the baby. Half the servants know by now, it won't take long for news to get around." 

Nanami pulled a stool from further back and saddled up to the bar across from Shayla. "This isn't going to sit well with a lot of people." 

"You mean besides us?" 

"I'm serious," Nanami said in a low but stern voice. She was tired of wallowing in self-pity, lamenting what might have been. It was her job to do the thinking that Makoto couldn't do for himself. Master of the Eye of God or no, he was still just like a little kid. The world would eat him alive if he didn't have her to watch out for him. "You remember that nutcase who broke into the library last year, the one who almost attacked Makoto?" 

"I broke the bastard's arm myself. Sure I remember." 

"There are a lot of people who feel the same way he does. They don't even like Makoto messing with the old Living Machines, never mind nosing around the Eye of God or bringing back a Demon God." 

"Hard to blame them." 

"Granted. But I'm worried. When this news gets out, it could make a lot of enemies for Makoto. The council is edgy enough as it is these days, what with the rebellion and all. They don't know Makoto like we do, they're afraid he'll use Ifurita's powers the way my shit brother did." 

Shayla didn't look as surprised at that notion as Nanami thought she would be. "Makoto hasn't helped himself much by sealing himself up all the time. Most of the people on the council haven't even seen him more than a few times since the War. Rune's done a pretty good job of speaking up for him, but that only goes so far. I didn't want to say anything before, but Afura's been worried too." 

"Well having this all happen in secret isn't going to help matters. What was the idea behind that anyway?" 

"Rune seems to think she can keep this all quiet." Shayla wasn't doing a very good job of trying to speak of her sovereign respectfully. "Like bringing back the Demon God who wiped out the frontier legions is no big deal. But look at it this way, as long as he's in the palace he's safe enough. He's going to have to get used to the fact that he's practically like royalty now and... uh, Nanami, are you okay?" 

Nanami just pointed. Shayla turned around, and instantly froze, no doubt matching Nanami's expression perfectly. It was such an utterly banal scene. The young couple came through the open doorway, walking arm in arm. Nanami's early shift waitress, sharp as ever, spotted them right away and greeted them cheerfully. She led them to one of the smaller round tables and they sat down on the simple wood chairs. The tunics and sandles they wore were a bit nicer than those of the labourers who made up the majority of Nanami's customers, but not so much to stand out. The man said something, held two fingers up. The waitress walked briskly over to the kitchen to call out the order. As Nanami had already gathered, two standard breakfast sets. The only thing one might call slightly unusual about all this was that the pretty young woman appeared to be albino. 

The young man spotted Nanami and Shayla, and said something to his companion. The two of them smiled and waved casually. Nanami did likewise, as she would to any customer. Shayla also did likewise, probably just from habit. 

*What's wrong with this picture?* 

Nanami stepped around the end of the bar and walked over to the couple. She sort of registered the fact that Shayla was following her. She was too busy thinking furiously... are they crazy just waltzing in here like this? What if somebody recognized her? There'd be a riot, panic in the streets... 

"Morning Nanami," Makoto said. "Morning Shayla. You remember Ifurita?" 

"Of course," Shayla said in a very carefully modulated voice. Nanami was proud of her. There was only the barest hint that she really wanted to say *how could I forget?* 

"Welcome back," was all Nanami could think to add. 

"Thank you," the young woman said with a friendly smile. It was becoming more difficult by the moment for Nanami to associate this woman with the thing that had nearly killed them all on the Island of the Demon God. 

"How did you get out of the palace?" Shayla asked Makoto. 

"Through the front door." 

"Oh." 

"What are you doing here?" Nanami asked him. 

"Having breakfast of course." 

"She eats?" Nanami said in surprise, looking at Ifurita. 

The platinum-haired woman, sitting calmly with her hands folded on the table, just smiled. "I can take energy through organic food as well. I'd like to get into the habit, it's much more pleasant than recharging with the staff." 

Nanami became more aware of what she'd said. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me." 

"I'm not offended. It's natural you'd be curious." 

"Do you have time to join us?" Makoto asked. 

Nanami felt awkward standing here, and somehow she couldn't just leave and go back to work. "Sure." That seemed to make the decision for Shayla as well. Nanami pulled a fourth chair over and they both sat down. "It's hard to believe, you really went back to Earth again." 

"Uh-huh, right back to the school." He looked fondly at his love. "Found her hanging out by the track field." 

"Wow." Nanami almost asked Makoto the question, but turned to Ifurita instead. She's here for good, better get used to it. "How long did you have to wait?" 

"Only until morning." 

"I was lucky," Makoto said. "I found a wormhole that took me to Earth just a few hours after we all left." 

Makoto had talked a bit about these wormholes before, about how they went to different times and different versions of the world... thinking too much about it made her brain hurt. "I keep thinking we've been gone for nearly three years, I was going to ask you if the place had changed at all. But you went back in time, right?" 

"Sort of." 

Nanami thought better of asking any further about that. Besides, there was a piece of unfinished business. "I'm sorry Makoto, this has all been so sudden." She lay her hand on his arm and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Congratulations. I knew you could do it." She looked over to Ifurita. "I mean congratulations to both of you. I hope you'll be happy." And I wonder if you realize how long and hard I've been practicing to say that. 

"I already am." It was an innocent answer, meant to assure her that her expressed hope was already fulfilled. But there were undercurrents in Ifurita's manner that Nanami couldn't help but pick up on... hints that Shayla's blunt comment had hit the mark. 

"You really should have gotten an escort before leaving the palace," Shayla cut in. Her voice was a bit sharper than it needed to be. Nanami knew why, Shayla tended to use anger to wash over more unsettling feelings... of course it takes one to know one. 

"I've never needed one before." Which had often been a point of contention with his worried friends. 

"Well you've never had a..." Shayla took a deep breath and let it out. She looked at Ifurita now, spoke in a lower voice. "Look, I'm sorry, but we're just worried what will happen once people realize who you are." 

Ifurita smiled. "The attention is a little... I'm not sure if I'm using the right word. Embarrassing. But I think I can get used to it." 

Shayla frowned "Attention?" She turned to Makoto. "Did something happen?" 

"We sort of got mobbed at the bazaar." He put up a hand, stopping Shayla's reply. "On the way here I went to say hello to old Asdic." That was a dealer in rare artifacts who ran a shop nearby - Makoto often went there looking for parts to fix the various ancient Living Machines he experimented with. "He's pretty sharp, so of course he figured out who Ifurita was before I even could introduce her. Well, his wife was there helping him open up shop, and you know how she is." 

Nanami knew well, an enthusiastic busybody with a voice that could carry right across the bazaar at rush hour. "Oh boy..." 

Makoto scratched the back of his neck in nervous embarrassment. "She bent over backwards telling me how pretty my new lady friend is and asking whether all Demon Gods were that beautiful. It took about a minute for half the merchants' wives on the block to come out of the woodwork." 

Just like a pack of obatarians, that lot. "Spontaneous press conference, huh?" 

"Big time. We would still be there telling our life stories, but I pleaded that we hadn't eaten anything yet today." 

"You mean, they knew....?" Shayla hesitated. 

"About Ifurita? Sure. They were more interested in knowing whether there was going to be a big state wedding for us." 

"A wedding?" the priestess asked. 

Makoto laughed nervously. "We haven't really talked about it yet." 

"We are already married." Ifurita's gaze dropped down to her folded hands. She couldn't keep a little smile off her lips. And apparently could do nothing about the flush slowly coming to her ivory cheeks. "In body and spirit. But perhaps a ceremony would be nice." 

*I don't believe this.* "So... you didn't have any other problem getting here?" she asked carefully. 

"Oh, just a few street urchins, the usual." He smiled. "They wanted Ifurita to fly them over the city." 

"*What?*" Shayla asked. Nanami winced. A few people were staring and mumbling now. 

"She would have done it too, if I hadn't shooed them away." 

"It would have been no trouble," Ifurita said, looking more relaxed again. 

"Well, I was getting hungry." 

As if on cue, the waitress came with their breakfasts. Nanami had already eaten and Shayla wouldn't be hungry with Fujisawa's concoction still cleaning out her system, so she just asked the waitress to bring them both tea. Nanami asked about Ifurita's experiences on Earth, which surprisingly led to a story involving another Demon God by the name of Erinyes. Then Ifurita wanted to know all about their adventure when they ran into Kalia. It only ended when Nanami had to excuse herself to help prepare for the midday crowd. The others left to return to the palace and pay a visit to the Fujisawa family. 

Nanami still wasn't sure how she felt about all this. There were suddenly a lot of things to think about. It would take a while. 

---------- 

"Homeroom?" Ifurita asked. 

"That's what we call it," Makoto explained. "You remember what that is?" 

"Of course, Makoto. We had it every morning." 

Makoto smiled. Well, at least in her memories they had. He was finding that more and more he seemed to remember things that way as well. It was just impossible to imagine that she had *not* really been at his side as they grew up and awoke to the possibility of love. How could it not have happened that way? "It's more an excuse to get together and reminisce about Earth. I guess one of us calls for a homeroom whenever they're feeling a little homesick. Usually it's Nanami. She called for this one, in fact." 

"I see. So that's why it's always just the three of you." 

Ifurita had come to the point before Makoto could raise it. He was relieved. He stopped walking and turned to face her. She did likewise. She let his arm slip from her light grasp, and they joined hands instead. "Ifurita, in my mind you've become just as much a part of my life back on Earth as any of my friends and family. More, in fact. It's your presence in those memories that gives them meaning for me." He smiled. "Would you like to come talk about old times for a while?" 

It was a while before she spoke. Makoto just waited. There could not be such a thing as an uncomfortable silence between them. After just a couple of days together they knew each other more intimately than couples who had spent a lifetime together. "Makoto, I'm not sure if I should. It's hard to explain. Could I link with you?" 

It was something they could do with ease now. Just a touch and their innermost thoughts belonged to each other. "Could you try to explain in words?" 

Ifurita looked puzzled. "That's not the first time you've asked that." 

He took her hand in both of his, gently stroked it. "Ifurita, that link was what allowed us to become familiar lovers overnight. We went through years of courtship and intimacy in a single moment. But I think we should stop depending on it." 

"Why?" 

He smiled. "Because if we become one person, we'll be alone again." 

She cocked her head. "Was that a joke?" 

"Sort of. But I've been giving it some serious thought too. I'll always cherish the memories that I gave to both of us. But I'd like to make some real ones. I'd like to get to know you better the old fashioned way." 

She thought about that for a moment. "Is this something like... well..." 

Makoto had some idea what she wanted to ask, and why she was fidgeting. #I'm pretty sure nobody can hear us, but would you prefer to ask like this?# It was something they discovered they could do when they touched. Words sent silently. 

#Is this to do with the first time we were intimate?# 

#You could look at it that way.# He'd wanted so much for her to know what he was feeling, and to know what she was feeling, he'd entered her soul the very moment he'd entered her body. Her passion and his had resonated explosively, pushing them both over the edge in a split second that had nearly stopped his heart. It was what he would call - at a later time when he was lucid again - a positive feedback loop. #Wasn't the second time much nicer? Without the link?# 

She smiled. #Yes, it was. Perhaps you're right. The link is not the best way to become closer.# 

"So, do you think you can explain in words?" he asked, reverting to the spoken word but still cradling her hand. 

Ifurita thought about it for just a short moment before responding. "Makoto, I've already told you that some day I would like to visit my counterpart, that other Ifurita who stands vigil over the home she shared with her beloved. I think I will have things to say and to ask that should be only between her and myself. I must presume that there are such things which pass between you and the two people who have shared your journey from Earth. Does that make sense?" 

"Yes, I suppose it does." 

"Then I think that your homeroom should remain between the three of you." 

"This would be the first time we've been apart since we arrived." 

"How long does homeroom usually last?" 

"Usually 'til about noon. Nanami should be showing up in a little while." 

"I waited ten thousand years to be with you, I think I can wait three point five hours." 

"Was that a joke?" 

She smiled. "Sort of." 

Makoto had been putting off raising another matter. Maybe now was a good time. "Ifurita, Rune Venus asked if we could meet with her briefly this morning. I didn't make any promise." 

Ifurita nodded, responding to the unspoken question. "I'd like to meet her again. We parted on bad terms, but I don't blame her for what she did. I know she's a dear friend of yours, I'd like to make amends." 

"I'm sure she feels the same way," Makoto said, more than a little relieved. "I'm sorry I left thus until the last minute, but she said she'd be free about now. Do you feel up to it?" 

"Of course." She slipped her hand through his arm again, and Makoto led her down the wide, curving hall towards Rune's audience chamber. "Did she say what she wished to discuss?" 

"No. Probably just a more formal welcome for you." 

"I would like to discuss the rebellion with her. We might be able to make my presence here work to the advantage of the Alliance. Perhaps we could meet with the council." 

Makoto put his hand over hers. "I'm glad to hear you say that. Just one word of advice: make that suggestion but let Rune handle things at her own pace. One thing I've learned about Rostalia politics is that they don't like things to happen in a hurry. Protocol and procedure is followed religiously." 

"I spent centuries serving a court far more byzantine than this one. This time I do it of my own choice, but that experience will serve me." 

"Just remember, I'd like you to be her *friend* too." 

She smiled warmly. "I would like that too. I see much to admire in her, I would know her better." 

He squeezed her hand fondly, and they continued on their way, silently enjoying the cheery sunlight and fragrant air of the morning. Servants and guards they passed would bow respectfully, showing no other reaction to their presence. A far cry from two days ago, when he had taken her out to Nanami's restaurant on impulse. Some of the staff they encountered along the way had looked about ready to wet their pants. Perhaps some had glimpsed the Demon God the last time she had been here... when she had announced her presence by demolishing one of the towers. But most had probably figured out who the stunning albino beauty at Makoto's arm was by deduction. Rune had scolded him for that little outing, when he met her privately. But even she had to admit it had done a world of good. The city was abuzz with tales of the great and terrible Demon God whose heart had been captured by the Phantom of the Eye of God. Rostalian folklore was full of stories of beautiful Demon Gods whose wrath had been quenched by the love of a mortal man. They were seeing myth brought to life before their eyes. 

As they approached the great carved double doors of the audience chamber, Makoto noticed a frown on Ifurita's face. "Is something wrong?" 

"There is a commotion within. Raised voices. Rune's and one other." 

One of the doors swung open ponderously, so it no longer muffled the voices. 

"I told you no and I meant no!" 

Makoto winced. #That's Princess Fatora.# 

#What angers her?# 

#Everything.# 

The door opened enough so that the one pushing it became visible. She wasn't quite as much Makoto's double now that they had both fully matured, but the resemblance was still remarkable. They would have more difficulty impersonating each other, which they had both done in earlier days, but they could easily have passed for twin brother and sister. She was in her full dress uniform, with the long colourful robes and tall headpiece. Nevertheless she looked anything but regal, straining at the heavy door, her face twisted in anger. 

"Fatora, be reasonable-" 

"Forget it!" Fatora said, cutting off Rune's voice. She spun around to face her sister, who sounded to be just inside the room, letting the door finish opening by momentum. "I'm not doing it and that's final!" 

"You can't keep avoiding-" 

"The hell I can't!" She spun on her heel and pulled her robes up from around her feet so that they wouldn't interfere with her stomping down the corridor. Stomping straight for Makoto and Ifurita. Makoto tensed up. He guessed the thing Fatora was so anxious to avoid was the thing she was rushing headlong into: a meeting with the Demon God who had taken her into the clutches of the Bugrom. Fatora had been unconscious at the time, but nobody held grudges quite like she did. This could get ugly. 

"Can't *believe* they'd trick me into this," Fatora hissed, her heavy footfalls echoing through the vast hall. "Like hell I'd meet with her, she's-" She finally looked up from the floor as if casually wondering why the two maggots in her path weren't scurrying out of the way as they should. "She's-" She stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes locked onto Ifurita's. "She's..." The anger turned to shock and horror, she released her robes, letting them spill about her feet. "She's..." The shock evaporated as quickly as the anger had. A flush came to her cheeks. Her eyes were still like saucers, but now she smiled. "Absolutely gorgeous..." 

Makoto recovered quickly. "Uh, your highness, I'd like you to meet-" 

Fatora already had Ifurita's free hand in both of hers. "You must be Ifurita! I'm Princess Fatora, you can just call me Fatora we don't stand on ceremony here. Wow, they told me you looked just like the other Ifurita and she was really something to look at but now I really wish I'd come to see you sooner!" 

Ifurita's expression was neutral, except for slightly arched eyebrows, the way Makoto had learned she usually dealt with confusing social situations. "Thank you for your kind greeting. Our first meeting was-" 

"Oh don't worry about all that, I was already kidnapped anyway. And I didn't even get to see you that time which I must say is a real shame. I'd like us to become really good friends this time." 

Her sister had by now joined the unexpected meeting, in robes identical to Fatora's. She was trying to maintain some semblance of dignity, but obviously just like Makoto she was trying to roll with Fatora's abrupt change of heart. She cleared her throat. "Thank you for coming to see us, Lady Ifurita. I hope we've been treating you well." 

"Yes, your highness, you've been very kind." 

"Well at least they've given you something decent to wear," Fatora said, briefly fingering the fabric of Ifurita's sleeve. "You look absolutely ravishing in that dress." 

"Thank you," Ifurita said, glancing down at her hand as if wondering when Fatora was planning on giving it back. 

"Fatora," Rune said sternly, "Makoto will be otherwise engaged for the morning, perhaps-" 

"I'd love to." Fatora came up beside Ifurita and took her arm. "I'll just bet nobody has even shown you around the palace, right?" 

"Well, no..." 

"I *thought* so, people here can be such bores. Let me give you the grand tour." 

This obviously was not what Rune had in mind. "Well, I thought we could both-" 

"Just leave it to me onesama, I know you have other work you need to do." 

Rune sighed. "Well, with our guest's permission then." 

Ifurita looked to Makoto. He forced a smile. Best go with the flow. "Why don't you go ahead. Meet in our rooms at noon?" 

"Okay." 

"I'll see you then." Makoto took her hand and extended the act of kissing it with a flourish. 

#Ifurita?# 

#Yes?# 

#Watch your back. But please don't hurt her.# 

Just a moment's hesitation. #Understood.# 

Fatora pulled Ifurita along with her. "That leaves us plenty of time, we are going to have so much fun. Everyone will probably be looking twice thinking you're still with Mako-chan, you know he and I are alike in so many ways. Say, did you know I've got this bathing pool in my rooms that's a lot nicer than the big one down here? I am just dying to get out of these stuffy..." Her voice was slowly drowned out by the distance and the echoing hall. 

Makoto and Rune stared at the retreating couple. "I'm glad to see Fatora isn't angry anymore," he said softly. 

"I just hope she doesn't do anything to offend Lady Ifurita. She can be so... so..." 

"Impulsive?" 

Rune sighed. "Yes. Impulsive." 

"May I ask what we would have been talking about if Ifurita had not been spirited away so abruptly?" 

"I wished to ask the favour you and I had agreed I could ask Ifurita on your arrival." 

"She's already agreed," Makoto said quickly, before Rune could say more. "Just name another time when we can see you, we'll come." 

Rune regarded him with eyes full of pain. "Makoto-" 

"Please Rune," he said gently. "Don't. We both understand. And we also said things that we regret. I beg you, don't torture yourself." 

She smiled, but her eyes showed no less sadness. They both understood, things were not the same between them, not yet. It would take time. "If you would both have dinner with me tonight, perhaps we can discuss matters then." 

"We'll be there." That is, assuming Fatora doesn't provoke Ifurita into doing something unfortunate and we don't have to flee the country. "I'm sorry you got all dressed up for nothing." 

"Oh, it certainly isn't the first time Fatora has stormed out of an official state function." 

Makoto had seen it happen too. One day that little fool would cause a war all by herself. "Well, it turned out okay." So far. 

"I shouldn't be holding you up from your homeroom." 

"It's a bit early, but maybe I'll head over there." 

They said their goodbyes, and Makoto made his way to their usual meeting place. It was just a rather drab little office in the library complex of the lower levels that the scholars there let them use. Which made it about the only room in the palace that could even remotely remind them of the school they had been whisked away from years ago. Which made it a fine place for homeroom. 

Makoto was surprised to find both his fellow Earthlings waiting for him. "Good Morning Sensei. Morning Nanami. I thought I was early." 

"Well, it seems Nanami was here all the earlier, setting down our agenda for us," Fujisawa-Sensei said from where he sat at the table. 

"Agenda?" They had long since dispensed with any pretence that this was a regular homeroom, it had long since become just an excuse to meet and talk. But Fujisawa-Sensei had sounded quite serious. 

"That's right," Nanami said brightly from her own chair at the front of the room. "We have something very important to discuss." She got up and stepped next to the black painted wall there which served as a chalkboard. That was when Makoto noticed that the wall was covered with characters in his native language. In Nanami's hand. She picked up a pointer from the narrow shelf on the wall and tapped the upper line of her writing. Makoto read it as she recited it. "Action plan to prepare for our eventual return to Earth." 

"*What?*" 

Nanami waved her pointer. "Have a seat, and I'll explain it to you." 

"But-" 

"Makoto," Fujisawa said. "Better do as your class president says. She has the floor." He grinned. "And I assure you, she is dead serious." 

"Have you been talking about this?" he asked the sensei in disbelief. 

Nanami sighed harshly. "Makoto, Fujisawa Sensei's got *eyes* okay? He can read the agenda just like you can. Now are you going to sit down or not?" 

Makoto suddenly did feel like he did need to sit down. He did so. 

Nanami paced across the room and played with her pointer as she talked, only occasionally glancing at her audience of two. "Okay, let's get a few things out of the way right off the hop. First, I know perfectly well that none of us is going back to Earth permanently. We've all got ties here, especially you two. And we've got responsibilities here. We all got unique powers when we came here, so there are things only we can do. That's just a plain fact. We're here to stay. On the other hand, we also have friends and family back on Earth. Considering the circumstances of our disappearance, they'll always be wondering what's become of us. That's got to be at least as bad as them thinking that we're dead. We at least owe it to them to let them know that we're okay. Third, the only reason we haven't thought of going back is that until now we didn't really know if it was possible." 

She turned to face them. "Well, now we do know it's possible. So it's time to start thinking about it." 

"But Nanami, what is there to talk about?" Makoto asked. "If you want to go to Earth and visit your family, I can take you back any time." 

Nanami rolled her eyes. "Thank *goodness* you didn't get stuck here on your own. I guess I'm going to have to spell it out. Sensei!" 

Fujisawa-sensei flinched. He already had his long reed pipe in his mouth, and was reaching into his other jacket pocket. He self-consciously crossed his arms. "Wasn't going to light it," he mumbled through clenched teeth. 

"I should hope not. Okay, point one." She tapped the wall and paraphrased what was written there. "We've all aged nearly three years since leaving, and for Makoto and me it's pretty obvious. Point two. My shi-" She coughed. "My delinquent brother is missing and even if he wasn't he'd be shot on sight anyway and good riddance. Which leads to point three. We can't just go back to the morning after we disappeared and pretend nothing's happened. Regardless of how or when we go back we'll have a lot of explaining to do, like what we've been doing for three years and where my sad excuse for a brother has gotten to. That's essentially it." 

Makoto was still puzzled. "Nanami?" 

"Yes?" 

"Why can't we just tell the truth?" 

"Who would believe us?" 

"Well... we could prove it. Ifurita herself would be proof. Not to mention that you and I are obviously older. If we show up the day after like this, they'll have to believe us." 

Nanami's all-business expression suddenly became grave. "Makoto, no offense intended to Ifurita, but do you really plan on telling everybody that your girlfriend is a doomsday weapon who could level every city on the planet single handed?" 

Makoto's angry retort stuck in his throat. He calmed himself and thought about it. Then thought about it some more. Nanami waited patiently, giving him all the time he needed. 

Makoto finally slumped forward, leaning on the table. "God, it would be a *circus*." 

Nanami nodded. "Yeah. If even a small part of the truth got out, it would be a mondo circus. For all of us." 

"Well, couldn't we go back in secret? I mean, just visit our families in private?" 

"Wouldn't work," Fujisawa-sensei said. He took the reed pipe out of his mouth. "If we do that, what are they supposed to do then? As far as the rest of the world is concerned, we're still missing and they're still looking for us. What are our families supposed to say to everybody else?" 

Makoto tried to imagine his parents in that situation. "You're right, it would be terrible for them. They'd have to live a lie." He shook his head. "But if we don't tell the truth then what possible story could we come up with? Even if we could come up with something plausible we'd have to wait at least two or three years before we showed up again. I can take us back in time but I can't make us look sixteen again." 

"Even if we were willing to keep everybody waiting that long," Nanami said, "We'd still have to explain my idiot brother's disappearance." 

Makoto was at a loss. "I don't know. There's got to be some way we can do this." 

"Well, that's what we're here for," Nanami said. She pulled her chair in closer to the others and sat down straddling its back, leaning her arms across the top. "Let's do some brainstorming." 

---------- 

Alielle was bored. 

It wasn't that she couldn't find anything to amuse herself when Fatora-sama wasn't around. If all else failed she could flirt with the maidservants. It was just that she and Fatora-sama were supposed to have taken a boat into the forest this morning, to hunt some flying fish. Though Fatora-sama had many virtues, even Alielle had to admit that punctuality wasn't one of them. But she had been waiting here at the palace shipyard for over an hour... even for Fatora, that was excessive. If some matter of state had come up, Fatora would have just come anyway. It had to be something more important. Which could mean only one thing. Fatora had scored with a babe. 

It didn't bother Alielle. Why would it? Fatora-sama had passion enough for a hundred lovers, she was the very goddess of love. And she offered of herself so freely, but alas so many women were simply intimidated by her station and by her peerless beauty. Which was a shame, they just didn't know what they were missing. 

Alielle finally decided to go look for Fatora in her rooms. If she really had gotten lucky today, she wouldn't mind Alielle peeking. Fatora quite liked that, in fact. She had such a generous heart, sharing came to her as easily as breathing. 

Alielle made her way up into the inner sanctum that held the royal bedchambers. She came into Fatora's chambers through the servants' entrance and walked in carefully, listening all the way. No sound. Maybe nothing going on after all. She'd go to the bedroom and check anyway. 

"You must be Alielle." 

She squealed, spun around and tripped, falling down hard on her rear. She stared up at the source of the voice that had been chillingly familiar. She recognized the face, and cried out even louder. 

"I'm sorry if I startled you," Ifurita said mildly, sounding like she meant it. "I thought you might be an intruder." 

"That's okay," Alielle panted. She swallowed, trying to get her heart back down her throat. Her mind was finally pushing through the adrenaline, reminding her that this was Makoto's girlfriend now. Not the Demon God. Not here to kill her. "I was just looking for Fatora-sama." 

Ifurita's expression darkened in a way that brought Alielle's heart back up into her throat. "She is in her bedchamber," she said coldly. 

"Oh. Uh... are you here visiting Fatora-sama?" 

"Yes. But I am done with her, I was just leaving." 

Alielle's blood turned to ice water. "I see-" Her voice broke. She cleared her throat. "I see. Well. Um, welcome back to Rostalia." 

"Thank you. If you'll excuse me, I have an appointment to keep. Good day." The woman whose face suddenly looked *exactly* like the thing that had tried to kill her on the Island of the Demon God turned on her heel and calmly walked out of the room. Alielle tried to push through her feeling of dread and think. No, Fatora-sama would never try that, the last Demon God they'd hit on had nearly broken Fatora's arm. Sure Ifurita was a real dish, with that beautiful wavy platinum hair and those gorgeous big round... 

Yes, Fatora would definitely try that. 

"Fatora-sama!" Alielle wailed as she scrambled to her feet and went into a dead run. The bed was a mess, and Fatora's nude, unmoving form lay on top of the rumpled sheets. Alielle's dread grew into full blown panic. "Fatora-sama!" she called again. She jumped straight onto the enormous bed, landing beside her still unmoving mistress. She took the princess by the shoulders and shook her roughly. "Fatora-sama, speak to me!" 

Fatora's eyes were glazed, and there was a silly grin on her face. "Ifurita..." she moaned. She was hoarse, like she had been screaming for hours. 

"Are you okay? My God, what did she do to you?" 

Fatora giggled, her voice cracking. "Sent me to heaven." 

---------- 

"She did *what*?" 

"Tried to seduce me," Ifurita repeated in the same calm voice. 

Makoto slumped down on the plush couch. "Oh God. You didn't hurt her did you?" 

"No, of course not," Ifurita said mildly. 

"What... um, how did you handle it?" 

She told him what she had done, and how many times. 

"But you were only with her a couple of hours!" Makoto blurted. "That... that's got to be impossible. How... uh..." 

"How did I do it? I used direct neural stimulation." She raised one hand, and little blue-white sparks danced across her fingertips. "I used knowledge of my own neuroanatomy as a guide. It was surprisingly simple." 

"And she's really okay?" 

"Her heartbeat was becoming irregular towards the end, that is why I stopped. But she is unharmed." 

Ifurita's tone was cold. And she still stood stiffly. Which meant she didn't want Makoto to know how upset she was. "Ifurita, did she offend you?" 

She crossed her arms and looked out over the balcony. "She had no interest in becoming closer to me, she was simply consumed with lust and conquest. I did find that offensive. So I gave her what she wanted and left." 

Makoto felt more or less relieved. "I think you gave her more than what she was hoping for. By a couple of orders of magnitude, at least. We call that poetic justice." 

Ifurita gave him a sidelong glance. "You don't disapprove?" 

"Just please don't try it on me, that's all." 

"Of course not, Makoto. I did it that way to *avoid* intimacy." She looked away again. "I'll admit I was somewhat curious. And she does resemble you so much. But as I said, her attitude was offensive." 

"Well, with any luck you've adjusted her attitude just a little." 

"I rather doubt that." 

Makoto sighed. "Yeah, who am I kidding." 

"I find it hard to believe she is related to Rune at all." 

"Yeah, they're about as alike as Nanami and Jinnai." Thinking of Nanami offered a welcome change of subject. "By the way, I found out why Nanami wanted to hold a homeroom all of a sudden. She wants us to make a visit back to Earth." 

"Earth?" That obviously got Ifurita's interest. 

"Yes, mostly to visit our families there." 

"Are you going to go?" 

"I'd like to. But I'm not sure if it's going to be that simple." 

"Why?" Ifurita went to sit down beside him, looking curious now. "You have complete mastery of the staff, you could go back any time." 

"It's not the trip that's the issue." Makoto summarized the problems Nanami had raised during homeroom. 

Ifurita listened quietly until he was done. "I think I understand. Being from another world and having special powers has made you the center of attention on this world. But on Earth you wish to avoid this... notoriety. Is that the right word?" 

"Yes, that's more or less the way Nanami sees it." 

Ifurita gazed at him curiously. "You see it differently?" 

"No, I just think there's more to it than that. It's kind of hard to explain. I get the feeling that this world around the time of the Holy Wars was something like my world is now. Their technology was producing one marvel after another and they thought they were masters of the Universe, sole inheritors of all creation. That's the way it's like on my world. If they suddenly found out there was this other world full of things they'd never dreamed of, that would change everything. I don't know, I'm just afraid that a lot of people would react badly." 

"Do you think your people would invade El Hazard?" 

Makoto was shocked at the seriousness with which the question was asked. "I really wasn't thinking in those terms. Ifurita, I just don't *know* what would happen, that's what scares me. I don't want to play dice with the fate of two worlds." 

"But you wish to go back." 

"Yes, I'd like to. Ifurita, how do you feel about this?" 

She smiled. "I would love to go back to Earth with you, even if just for a little while. Being in your school made the happy memories you gave me so much sharper, so much more vivid. I would like to see all the other places we grew up together." 

Makoto took her hand. "And I'd love to show you those places." 

Ifurita's smile dissolved into a more pensive expression. "Yet I can see the problem as you do. The people who made me truly did fancy themselves the masters of all space and time. Discovering another world full of people would have caused an upheaval. I think you are right to fear that." She was silent for a moment, then shook her head and fixed sad eyes upon Makoto. "I'm sorry, but I just can't see any way around the dilemma Nanami pointed out. If we go back, the truth will come out." 

"I did think of something when we were talking about it. Nanami and Fujisawa-sensei were pretty sceptical, but I think it could work. I might need your help, though." 

"What is it you intend to do?" 

He grinned. "I call it hiding in plain sight." 

---------- 

Fleet Admiral Hayashi tapped his Gavel of Lordly Might against the plastic phaser that lay on the tatami mat next to him, once again lamenting the lack of a table. "Okay, this emergency meeting of the Shinanome High SF Research Circle will come to order." Alas, he still faced an array of identical magazine covers. A few threats of court martial later, the last of them had been set down. Just his luck he had to call an emergency meeting the day Animage came out. Well, they'd be a damned sight more attentive when he showed them what he'd called them here to discuss. He cleared his throat. "First of all, my thanks to Rear Admiral Takeuchi for providing us a venue on such short notice." 

The Rear Admiral crunched down on the last of the pocky candy he had been methodically masticating. "No prob. Sorry 'bout the mess." Said mess had largely been swept aside, but still the little bedroom was a tight fit for the Inner Five. 

"So when do we get our meeting room back anyway?" Major General Ueda asked in his whiny voice. 

"When our fascist stormtrooper overlords see fit to give it back to us, that's when," Science Officer Takeshi said, her bitter sarcasm dripping all over the floor. 

"Huh?" Master Corporal Ishida asked, clearly reeling under this brutal assault of polysyllabic words. 

Hayashi sighed. "Our Science Officer is referring to the police officers who have cleared everyone out of the school grounds every day after closing bell since the disappearances." 

"Gallantly protecting us from those dangerous stone carvings," the Science Officer said, the sarcasm now an expanding pool. 

"Just as well," the Master Corporal said. "Wouldn't catch me dead after dark in that place, not any more." 

"In fact it is the matter of those disappearances I wish to discuss today," Hayashi said. 

"Hey, you heard the latest?" the Major General piped. "It was in the paper, the Police interviewed this lady who was walking by the school real early the morning after, doing her deliveries. She says there was this weird gaijin chick wandering around the school and then this angel came down and took her away!" 

"Of course we've heard it, General," Hayashi said. "It was in all the gutter press this morning." 

"Angels," the Rear Admiral snorted. "Yeah, we wish. Whatever came out of that temple and swallowed four people whole, it's still around, you can bet on that man." 

"Nobody swallowed nothing," Hayashi said. "I know exactly what happened." 

"Huh?" the Master Corporal said. 

"Admiral, you want to back up and tell us what we missed?" the Science Officer asked. 

"I'll show you," Hayashi said. He reached behind him, unzipped the portfolio bag he'd borrowed from the art club and pulled out the package it contained. He laid it in front of him. "Okay people, listen up. You remember when I brought us those Akira cels?" They all nodded reverently. "Treat this just the same. Nobody touch nothing, see?" 

"Whacha got there, boss?" the Major General asked. 

"It got delivered to my house yesterday," Hayashi replied. "Registered, but no return address, just from the post office downtown." 

"And you *opened* it?" the Rear Admiral asked indignantly. 

"Well what was I supposed to do, take it to the police and ask would you please have the bomb squad have a look at this?" 

"At least that." 

"Get real. Of course I opened it." 

"So what is it?" the Science Officer asked. 

"Have a look." He opened one end of the large, thin package and carefully pulled out a thick folder tied with a cord. He undid the cord and flipped open the folder of heavy, stiff paper, exposing the top picture of the portfolio. 

"Hey, cool," the Major General piped. "Who did this?" 

"No idea," Hayashi said. It was a portrait of a lovely young woman with platinum hair and blue eyes. She was in a quasi-military black and grey uniform, standing vaguely at attention, holding something that could be called a very elaborate staff or sceptre. It was on stiff white paper, done with some sort of coloured pencils. Hayashi carefully flipped it over, exposing the picture underneath. It was a pencil sketch of what could be described as a palace. 

"Wow, that's like something out of the Arabian Nights," the Science Officer said. 

"Naw, looks mor scifi," the Rear Admiral said, wrapping his words around another pocky. 

Hayashi flipped. The next was another pencil sketch, obviously of the same city dominated by that enormous palace, taken from a greater distance. 

"This is really great work," the Science Officer said. "Who sent them to you?" 

"Just wait 'til you've seen 'em all." 

It took a while. Mostly they were sketches, but there were a few more colour drawings and even a couple of watercolours. As they saw more, Hayashi's Inner Circle became more excited about the remarkable portfolio. "I like the redhead's outfit... that's kind of like those Starship Troopers bugs... are those flying boats? Cool, just like Barsoom... Looks like the Death Star..." 

Finally they came to the last picture, a group portrait done in pencil. The Inner Circle just stared for a few seconds. "Admiral, is this really part of the portfolio?" the Rear Admiral asked. 

"Yep." All of them were from the same school, so they would immediately recognize the three people. But in the sketch they were all in outfits that seemed to fit in nicely with the world depicted in the rest of the portfolio. 

"Wait a minute... there are only three," the Science Officer said. 

"Huh?" the Master Corporal said. 

Hayashi wondered if somebody would catch it. He flipped the drawing, exposing one final, smaller one underneath. The missing fourth, weirdly still in the blazer and tie of his school uniform but flanked by two of the bug creatures. 

"That's Jinnai alright," the Major General said. 

"Admiral, this is getting scary," the Science Officer said gravely. "Where did you get this, really?" 

"Told you, it just arrived. The only other thing was this." He flipped the last picture over, and under it was another pile of smaller papers. The top one was covered in writing. Done in hand but sort of weird, like it was done with a quill pen or something. "It's a diary." 

"Whose?" 

"Mizuhara Makoto's." 

"Hey," the Master Corporal said. "Those are the four people that disappeared." 

His long-suffering friends ignored him. "Boss, that ain't funny," the Rear Admiral said. 

"Not supposed to be. It's his handwriting, and it's obviously written by him. Besides, half those sketches were done by him, I'm sure of it." 

"Shit," the Major General breathed. "Does it tell, like, what happened to them?" 

"Sort of. It's more like a story." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Rear Admiral snapped. 

"I'll read you some of it." 

Hayashi ended up having an even later night than yesterday. Each of them had their own particular theory on where The Truth lay, and clung to it stubbornly. So it was a good long time before they finally decided what they were going to do with this stuff. 

---------- 

This being one of the most respected jewellery shops in the country, the proprietor was well used to having beautiful women dressed to the nines come in search of that perfect stone with which to adorn themselves. But the vision that walked through the door quite took his breath away. A pale, platinum blonde with deep blue eyes. When she met his eyes she smiled warmly, and the Ice Princess look vanished like a snowball in the desert. She was in a pale pink dress suit, and more remarkably a matching veil that covered much of her hair. Her eyes never left his as she manoeuvred between the display cases. It was more than a little unnerving. 

"Good morning Madam," he said with his usual grave sincerity. "May I help you?" 

"Do you do appraisals?" she asked. 

"Of course, Madam." 

"I have recently come into an inheritance which included a very old collection of gems. I am interested in selling them, but it has been a very long while since they were appraised. I would like to get an estimate of their value." 

"Of course, madam," he said. "I could give you a very rough estimate right here. If you wished a more accurate assessment, you could leave them with us for a day." 

"I will do both." She opened up her shoulder bag, removed an odd little lacquer case and placed it on the glass table between them. 

The proprietor unlatched and opened the lid of the case. Then he very nearly did something he had not done since he was four years old. He very nearly wet his pants. 

---------- 

"You say somebody bought the place?" the Fat Obatarian asked. 

"Why yes," the Skinny Obatarian answered, pouring the tea. "My husband said they closed the deal six months ago." 

"You don't say? I never heard." 

"Well, he never said a thing. Just like him. And they were so relieved too, he thought they'd never sell it." 

"Well, I'm sure it used to be nice but it's just so far out of the way now. Out in the middle of nowhere, really." 

"That's what I said. The younger kids in the family have all moved into town long ago and who can blame them? Probably glad to finally be rid of the place. But you know what else I heard? The people who moved in turned out to be a bunch of foreigners." 

"No! Really? That old place?" 

"Yes. Apparently they've spent a fortune fixing it up." 

"Oh, that's such a shame. It really should have been designated a national treasure, that place. It was the home of Samurai, after all." 

"Oh but I hear they're not really modernizing it or anything like that. They're actually restoring it to just what it was like before the fire." 

"Really? Imagine that, them being foreigners and all. Does anyone know who they are?" 

"No, nobody's ever seen them, not even my husband." 

"Imagine that. Do you think they're really living there? Maybe they're just investors or something." 

"Well, my sister knows the fellow who takes care of the grounds for them. They specifically asked him to do his work on Thursdays, I suppose they work in the city somewhere and come out for weekends. Except once he actually spotted somebody, I suppose one of the foreigners taking the day off or something." 

"Who did he see?" 

"He said it was a very pale woman with white hair, in a white dress. Gave him such a fright, he thought it was a ghost." 

"Fancy that." 

---------- 

"Honey, it's the Chief Inspector," Mrs. Mizuhara called. 

Her husband, who had hovered in the kitchen when the doorbell rang, came out into the hallway. "Evening," he said stiffly. 

"Good Evening, Mr. Mizuhara," the Inspector said, bowing. "I hope I have not interrupted your dinner." 

"No, no." he answered quickly. He was trying so hard not to look hopeful. There had been just too many disappointments. 

"Please come in," Mrs. Mizuhara said. The Inspector removed his shoes and they all went to sit down on the cushions around the dining table. "Can I get you something to drink?" 

"No, thank you. I won't be long at all." She felt a stabbing pain in her heart. Just a little of it was relief. She could read the Inspector like a book by now, knew what to expect. No good news... but no bad news either. 

"I just wanted to let you know that we have returned the materials which Makoto's friends turned in for our inspection." 

Which meant they had been of no help. "So, they were telling the truth?" 

"It would appear so. They were simply materials for some creative project that Makoto had been participating in. An illustrated fantasy novel of sorts, apparently inspired by the uncovering of those odd ruins under the school. We have to assume that Makoto posted the package." 

Which meant that her son had been alive two weeks after he disappeared. 

"You said... 'participate'..." her husband said hesitantly. 

"Some of the pictures were almost certainly not done by your son." 

"Then by whom?" 

"Since this is our only lead so far we would like to find out. Which brings me to another matter. I spoke with young Hayashi-san when I returned the materials to his home yesterday. He wishes to publish the materials." 

"Publish?" 

"Yes. He believes that both the pictures and the story would be of interest to a particular fantasy magazine. He intends to return the materials to you. But he would like to pursue their publication first, and he requested that I ask your permission on his behalf." 

"You think we should agree?" she asked. 

"I think that a possible link to such a well publicized missing persons case makes their publication a virtual certainty." 

"Inspector," her husband said coldly, "are you suggesting that my son is part of some elaborate hoax?" 

"No sir. I'm suggesting that if this project of his is related to his disappearance then their publication can only help to shed light upon the matter." 

"I certainly see no harm," she said quickly, heading off any outburst her husband might make. He nodded, giving his assent with a wordless grunt. 

"Very well. I'm sorry there wasn't more I could report. Please be assured we are sparing no effort." 

She saw the Inspector to the door, then went to get her husband a beer from the refrigerator. 

"Thanks," he said softly, taking the glass she had poured him. 

"He said he's heading over to talk to Nanami's parents," she said. 

"I still think that Fujisawa character took them on some damned fool mountain trek. Probably got them lost in China or who knows where." 

She just bowed her head. That was the idea he had been insisting on for some time. Many others agreed it was likely. But she couldn't share it. It just led to a vision of her son's body lying frozen on some mountain top. Her own current idea envisioned them all having become involved in some cult. At least then they would be alive. But the idea was gradually failing, gradually using up its power to comfort. 

As she expected, Nanami's mother called some time later. They talked only for a brief while. What was there to say? Nothing had changed. Yes, they were all bright, resourceful kids. Yes, Fujisawa-sensei had his problems but he could be relied upon. Wherever they were, whatever they were doing, they would get through it and come back. Of course they would. 

Her husband brought his briefcase, and soon lost himself in office work. She soon followed suit, bringing her own case and spreading out her own materials on the table across from him. In silence, she doggedly continued on the assignment for her accounting night course. Makoto would likely be leaving the house in a year or two, it was a good time to think of a new career for herself. Yes, he would be in college and then probably married soon after, maybe even to that nice Nanami. Yes, he'd have his own life soon, it was time for her to start applying herself elsewhere. 

The room was suddenly bathed in a soft, silvery light. She looked up from her work, puzzled. Then she saw the angel. She heard her husband gasp. But she could not even manage that, her throat seized up so that she could not even breathe. 

The angel smiled warmly. "Hello Mother, Father." 

"Makoto..." she gasped. "Oh God, you're..." 

He shook his head, still smiling mildly. "No Mom, I'm not dead. We're alive. All of us are alive." 

She shot up from the cushion she sat on and ran the three steps over to him. But even before her hand passed through him, she could see it... could see the other side of the room right through him. She stumbled back, trying to convince herself she wasn't going mad. 

His smile became sad, apologetic. "I'm sorry I can't really come back mom. I just wanted to let you know that we're okay." 

"Makoto..." her husband was standing now as well. In just the short moment she glanced at him she saw all her own feelings reflected in his face, relief and fear and wonder and pain. "Son, where on Earth have you been?" 

"We're living in a different place now. A nice place." 

"You've grown," she said, mostly just to herself. He had been missing not much more than a month. 

"A lot of time has passed here." 

"Makoto..." her husband seemed unsure just what to ask. "What *happened*?" 

"I'm sorry dad, I can't say too much about it right now. I can tell you that it wasn't an accident we were brought to this place. It was meant to be this way. There was some important work we had to do. But everything is okay here. And we're all very happy." 

She reached out again, aching to touch him. It hurt so much that she couldn't. "Makoto, aren't you coming back?" she pleaded, refusing to believe it. 

"Not now. But we will meet again, I promise. Until then, please don't worry about me. I'll miss you more than I can say. But I've got lots of wonderful friends here. When we meet again, I'll have so much to tell you." 

"No..." she took a tentative step towards him. Then she felt her husbands hands on her shoulders, gently holding her in place. 

"Son." His voice was right by her ear, he was holding her close now. "We're not the only ones who have been worried about you. What on Earth do we tell all your friends?" 

His smile wavered for just a moment. "Tell them to have faith in us. Tell them, they can believe that we'll all meet again." 

"When?" she asked. 

"Before the millennium's end." His image was starting to fade, as was his voice. His sad smile came back. "Goodbye Mom, Dad. I love you both very much." Then her son was gone. 

She cried for a very long time, first standing there, then later lying in their bed. He held her, stroked her hair, kept telling her what a fine young man their son had grown into. After a while, that thought did bring some comfort. 

They decided they would never tell anyone. But they would do as their son had asked. They would tell his friends to have faith. 

---------- 

Ifurita was in agony. She had never imagined she would see him cry like this. She wanted so much to merge her soul with his, imagining she could take the pain upon herself, relieve him of it. But he was right, that was not the best way. So she just cradled him in her arms, his head nestled against her breast. 

"God, I didn't want to leave them," he whimpered. "They looked so desperate. I think I did more harm than good." 

"No," she said softly, cuddling him closer. "They've seen that you're alive and happy. How can that be bad?" 

"But they don't understand. I should have told them everything." 

"You will tell them. Very soon." 

"Soon for us. Two years for them." 

---------- 

"Now Nanami-san, you're our guest," Miz scolded gently. "A maidservant will be around shortly." 

"Oh don't mind me," Nanami said brightly, stacking up the last of their lunch plates. "I more or less do this without even thinking." 

"And we can expect her bill to arrive in the morning," Fujisawa said with a wink. 

"Well, if I did that you might start charging me rent." 

"Honestly, you two. I swear your native country must be run by the Merchants' Guild." 

"I suppose you could put it that way," Fujisawa said, gently bouncing their baby on his knee. 

"It's what makes the world go 'round," Nanami called just before she disappeared into the kitchen with the remains of their lunch. 

Miz looked disapprovingly at her husband. "You should take responsibility as a teacher, letting her become so materialistic like that." 

"I heard that," Nanami said, emerging from the kitchen again. "The way Fujisawa-sensei tells it, your eyes lit up like two gold coins when you found out he's a salaried government employee." 

"It was nothing like that!" Miz insisted. "It was love at first sight, wasn't it dear?" 

"Absolutely, my dove," he said quickly. "Though sadly, at the time I was too thick to realize it." 

Nanami sat down and poured herself some fruit punch from the pitcher. "Well, with respect Sensei I bet you're making a lot more here than you ever were in Japan. Allowing for the radically different economies, of course." 

"Oh my," Miz said with a long-suffering sigh. "Please don't remind me. He was at the frontier for a *week* the last time." 

"Now Miz, you know it's important work," Fujisawa said, gently patting her hand. "A lot of the people on the frontier are still living in tent cities." 

"I suppose you're right," Miz said sadly. 

"Well, I hear now that the rebellion's over, two more legions of the guards are being sent back to the frontier," Nanami said. "That's a lot of manpower and engineering skills, it'll really help speed up the reconstruction." 

"I hadn't heard that," Miz said. 

"Londs told me yesterday. He wanted to make sure I'd be available when they showed up here for review." 

"Oh, of course," Miz said, obviously understanding. It had been a while since any Phantom Tribe infiltrators had been found, but Nanami was still called upon to attend the review of any unit that passed through the city. Which was another excuse for her to be staying with Fujisawa's family in the palace. But besides just enjoying the company, she was anxiously awaiting their friends' return, wanted to be here when they arrived. 

"Now now, what are you fussing about, hmm?" Fujisawa said gently to his baby girl as he began bouncing her again. She was still fidgeting and gurgling. 

"Oh dear, you'd better give her to me." They both reached across the table and did the hand off. "You silly girl, I just fed you a while ago." 

"I can't believe how she's growing," Nanami said. "She'll probably end up as tall as you, Miz." 

"I think it's a bit early to tell that," Miz said, opening the front of her dress. "And with that hair, I could see her growing up to look more like Afura." 

"Speaking of Afura, any word from her?" 

Miz made sure her daughter was happily nursing before she answered. "Nobody's heard since Shayla went to visit," she said softly. "I think it will be a while before she's back from Mount Muldoon. She's on a pilgrimage, we... probably won't hear from her much." 

"I hope she'll be okay," Nanami said, not sure what else to say. They had all seen how spooked Afura had been by whatever Makoto had shown her in the Eye of God. 

Miz smiled. "She's a very disciplined priestess, Nanami-san. I'm sure it won't take her long to find her center again. We'll be seeing her soon." 

"I'd almost be tempted to join her," Fujisawa said. He flinched slightly under Miz' glare. "I mean, I understand how she feels," he corrected himself quickly. "Makes my poor head hurt, thinking of all those wormholes and multiple universes." 

Nanami could only agree, she just tried not to think about it that's all. She suddenly regretted having brought them to this topic. "Well, she'll have to come back if Rune really decides to reseal the Eye of God." 

"I imagine she'll wait a bit before doing that," Miz said. Before she could say more they heard the latch on the apartment door being opened. They turned to see a guard enter and bow to the four guests he admitted. 

"Hey, welcome back!" Fujisawa called out, waving at them. 

Makoto and Ifurita both waved and returned his greeting. They each had only one free arm apiece, since Kauru and Alielle respectively were clinging to them adoringly. Nanami couldn't help glaring at them. Just like those two oversexed munchkins to smell out their prey before they could even get here. And it looked like the objects of their affection really had just arrived. They were each in jeans and a light jacket, and were hefting two large backpacks. 

"Come sit down and tell us all about your trip," Fujisawa said, pulling out the chair beside him. 

"Thanks. Pardon me, Kauru." She gave him his arm back long enough for him to slip off his backpack and put it down on the table. "We brought back some souvenirs." 

"Oh my!" Kauru said, stars in her eyes. "Artifacts from the world where Makoto-sama was born!" 

*Oh spare me.* But Nanami was curious as well. "Mind if we have a look?" 

"Be my guest." 

Ifurita laid her own pack on the table. "This is reading material for you and Fujisawa-sensei," she said to Nanami. 

She decided to open up that one first. "Wow, you really packed this! Must have been heavy." 

"Not really." 

Nanami stared laying out newspapers, magazines, almanacs and books. 

"So how was the world of 1997?" Fujisawa asked. 

"Pretty much the same," Makoto answered, opening up his own pack. "Our families are all fine. The economy took a bit of a downturn, but things are generally okay." 

Nanami dug deeper into Ifurita's pack. "Oh great, you brought some manga too." She picked up one volume and flipped it to look at the front cover. Her jaw dropped. "Hey, what the hell is this?" 

"Language..." Fujisawa said sternly. 

Makoto smiled impishly. "What does it look like?" 

"I can't read it," Alielle complained, trying to see better and using that as an excuse for getting uncomfortably close. 

Nanami sighed. She didn't appreciate being pawed like this. "Oh, here..." Absently, she grabbed another volume out of the pack and shoved it into Alielle's hands. 

"What is it, Nanami?" Miz asked. She wasn't at all self-conscious about nursing her baby, had done it in front of their friends many times. 

"El Hazard, The Magnificent World," Nanami read, then held for Miz and Fujisawa to see the cover. It had a picture of what was unmistakably Rune Venus. 

"Well I'll be," Fujisawa said. "Looks like that little 'project' of Makoto's really took off." 

"Big time," Makoto said. "We bought some electronics for the house, so when we go there you can see the anime if you like. In the meantime I brought along an illustrated art book, and a few cels." 

"Hey, I'm in here too!" Alielle called out excitedly, flipping through the book Nanami had given to her. 

"We all are," Makoto said. 

"What?" Nanami flipped quickly through the volume she held. She didn't need to read, the story was certainly familiar. High school student discovers artifact under his school... goes there late one night to find a beautiful girl... she sends him to another world... he rescues a princess... has to impersonate the princess' sister. She looked back up. "Makoto... do people believe this is what happened to us?" 

"Mostly not." He pulled a slim laptop out of his pack. "I downloaded a lot of the internet chatter, you can judge for yourself." 

"Hey, pretty slick machine," Fujisawa commented. 

"Yeah, there's a two hundred megahertz pentium in this little thing," Makoto enthused. "Can you believe it? All I need to do is get one of those generators in the lab to put out AC current for the battery charger. You know, I may even be able to set up a protocol for linking this to the PC in the house, through the wormhole." 

So now he wants to use wormholes for a modem. God, he is just having too much fun. "So you figure it's okay for us to go?" she asked cautiously. 

"Sure, we've got the place all stocked and cleaned up." 

"That's not what I meant." 

Makoto didn't lose his smile, but he sounded a bit more serious. "Things went pretty much as we had planned. I think it'll work out." 

---------- 

There was a sharp knock on his office door, "Come," the Chief Inspector called, not looking up from the report he was reading. 

The door opened, and there was the sharp click of the constable's heels as she walked up to his desk. Walked very briskly. He looked up. "What is it?" he asked the rather flustered looking police officer. 

"We've had a call from the Mizuhara residence, sir." 

It took just a second for that to register. It had been weeks since he had thought of that case. "Yes?" 

"He turned up yesterday. I mean, their son sir. I mean, Mizuhara Makoto." 

"*What*?" 

There was the sound of running feet approaching. Another officer burst into the office, not even bothering to stop at the open door. "Sir, we've just had a call from the Jinnai residence...." 

---------- 

The two of them leaned against the table in the darkened room, watching the interview through the one-way glass. It had been going on for six hours now. That Ice Princess still looked fresh as a daisy. Hadn't even asked for a glass of water or a trip to the washroom or anything. It was the third interviewer, she was chewing them up like drill bits. 

"So what do you think?" the Chief Inspector asked his colleague. 

"It's the damnedest thing. Obviously all fabrication, but for the life of me I can't even put a dent in it. They must have been spending the last two years memorizing this crap." 

"Okay, off the record. What do you think really happened?" 

"Off the record?" 

"Off the record." 

"Okay, how about this. They open up that coffin thing inside the mausoleum and find it full of those gems. Jinnai takes some of them to get assessed... at some place run by the Yakuza say. They figure the gems are worth killing the little shit for, so they do. The others panic and run, figuring they're next or maybe they'll get blamed for Jinnai. They run into our Ice Princess here somewhere along the way. She takes control of things, pawns the gems for them, sets them up in that big old house they've got. She could have even had them out of the country for a while, maybe that's when Fujisawa meets this Miz character and decides to make the best of things and settle down. Finally, the kids start to feel guilty or homesick and they come home." 

"You don't think they did Jinnai themselves? Maybe for his share of the loot?" 

"I think this lady's the only one who'd have it in her. I interviewed her myself, remember. Like talking to the Terminator. She almost had me believing all this shit they've been feeding us. We should check the house just for good measure, but if she did it then I bet we'll never find out. And now that she's married Mizuhara we can't even deport her." 

"Where do you figure she's really from?" 

"Hell only knows. I'd just like to know if she has a sister." 

The Chief Inspector sneered. "Sure, she's got a twin sister over in El Hazard. Why don't you ask young Mizuhara to introduce you?" 

"I did. He said he would if I really wanted, but recommended against other 'Earthlings' going to El Hazard. Those side-effects, you know." 

"Ah, right. So how about this story anyway? Did they just figure if they're going to lie they might as well make it a really big lie?" 

His companion hesitated. The Chief Inspector glanced over to him. It was another moment before he spoke. "That's the scary part about this. I've interviewed all of them. Either they're the most convincing pack of liars the world has ever seen, or they really *believe* this stuff they're telling us. I've worked on cult cases involving some pretty elaborate mass delusions, but nothing even approaching this. Usually the more intricate the delusion the easier it is to make it fail. This one's just the opposite, it holds up no matter what we throw at them. It's no wonder the kids' parents have bought into it." 

The Chief Inspector mulled over that for a moment. "You realize the only way we can demonstrate they're obstructing justice is to ask them to prove this rubbish by doing something mystical." 

"Right." 

"If we do that we'll be a laughing stock." 

"I would expect so." 

The Chief Inspector sighed. He came to his decision. "Okay, let's wrap this up as quick as we can." 

---------- 

"This is quite a lot," Miz commented, helping Nanami unpack the groceries that Nanami had just driven home with. 

"We've got a full house tonight," Nanami said, gesturing across the counter into the big open living space. Alielle and Kauru were glued to the television set, watching the El Hazard LD set for the second time in a row. Ifurita and Afura were equally absorbed with the PC system in the other corner. Fujisawa had a relief map of a nearby mountain range spread out on the floor. Through the door-windows, they could see Shayla sweeping autumn leaves in the garden. "And Makoto said he'd be bringing two guests with him." 

"Well, we'd best get busy then," Miz said. "Hmmm, you don't seem to have a daicon here." 

"I figure we'll get one from the garden. Thanks for reminding me, I'll go ask Shayla." On the way over there she detoured over to the workstation to peer over Afura's shoulder. She was paging through a long document that seemed to be about ancient Rome. Probably Gibbon's Decline and Fall. She was paging rather quickly too, she could read almost as quickly as Ifurita. "Man, ten million web sites and that's the most interesting thing you can find?" 

Afura looked up and smiled. "We were reading the history of the Han dynasty this morning. It made reference to another civilization that was developing on the other side of Eurasia, so we decided to look that one up as well." 

"I never figured you'd be the one to become an Internet junkie." 

"But it's such a marvellous thing. It's like having a million books floating in space over my head," she said, spreading her arms out wide. "And they're all connected by these little golden threads. I have but to pull on the thread and the next book comes to me!" 

"I thought you two were supposed to go climbing today." 

"We were planning to," Ifurita said. She smiled. "We became rather... absorbed." 

"The hills around here are pretty wimpy anyway," Fujisawa said, looking up from his maps. "Come with Miz and me next week and we'll show you some real climbing." 

"I can't believe I let you talk me into that," Miz said from the kitchen where she continued to separate out the groceries they'd need for today's dinner. 

"Stop being such a wimp, Miz," Afura scolded. "You two wiped out a whole Bugrom regiment together, mountain climbing should be like a walk in the park for you." 

"Well, I'm retired now. And I've a child to care for," she said, indicating the sleeping bundle strapped to her back. 

"You may be retired but you're very far from being an old lady," Fujisawa said. 

Miz blushed. "Honestly, the things you say..." But that seemed to put an end to the argument. Nanami grinned. *Score one for Sensei.* Alielle and Kauru didn't even notice Nanami stepping over them on her way over to the door. Probably wouldn't notice if I stepped on them, Nanami thought. She slid open the glass door and was met by the autumn chill. Replacing the rice paper panels in at least some of the rooms with these had been one of the compromises to modern comfort. Nanami didn't mind the idea of relying on quilts and sweaters in the winter, but their Rostalian guests were unaccustomed to the cold. 

Which was why Shayla was so well bundled. She noticed Nanami stepping out onto the balcony and waved. "Is Makoto back?" she called. 

"Not yet. We're just starting to get dinner ready. Can you go get a daicon for us?" 

"Sure, no problem. Say, you didn't run into those reporters on the way home did you?" 

"Didn't see anyone. Why, you had some problems?" 

"Not really, just shooed a couple of them away a little while ago." 

Nanami sighed. "Okay, what did you do this time?" 

"I didn't hurt them," Shayla said indignantly. "Just took one of their picture things." 

"Cameras?" 

"Yeah, cameras. I even gave it back to him. Both halves, in fact." 

"I'm just glad you weren't around for the police interviews, you probably would have killed somebody. And you're lucky we don't live in the United States, otherwise somebody in the gutter press would have sued us by now." 

"So, Makoto could buy a thousand cameras, he can get them a new one if they've got any complaints. My only regret is letting Alielle have one of them." 

"Yah, no kidding." She had *no* idea how that little weasel had sneaked into the shower room without her knowing. If I ever get my hands on the negatives... 

Shayla leaned her rake against a stone lantern and walked closer. "So did you visit your folks when you were in town?" 

"For a little while, yeah." 

"They're still taking all this okay?" 

"More or less." Nanami grinned. "But if my shit brother ever shows his face, grown up or not dad swears he'll give the stupid little troublemaker a really good thrashing." 

"Sounds good, but he'll have to get in line." 

Nanami winked. "Something to look forward to." 

"Right. I'll be around with your daicon in a few minutes." 

"Thanks, Shayla. See you in a bit." Nanami went back to the kitchen to find that Miz had the preparations well under way. Soon Shayla arrived with an enormous white radish and lent her hand as well, Surprisingly, the fiery priestess had taken quite a liking to Japanese cooking. Nanami suspected it was because she enjoyed working with really sharp knives so much... she was certainly very adept and flamboyant with them, often spending more time juggling knives than cutting anything with them. Nanami wondered if the priestesses had some weird ninja type training - they certainly made enthusiastic use of the doujou. 

"Oh..." Ifurita stood up abruptly. "Our guests are arriving. Excuse me." 

Which meant she had sensed a wormhole opening. "I'll come too," Nanami said, quickly wiping off her hands and walking around the counter. 

Ifurita smiled gratefully. "Thank you." It was odd, the Demon God seemed to have genius level intelligence, total recall and an unshakable will. But in some ways she was still very much an innocent. And she always felt bad about tripping over some social custom. They're sure lucky they've got me around, Nanami thought. Goodwill emissary to the universe, that's me. 

They emerged into the doujou just on time for the light show to start. The big exercise room was the largest open space in the house, and was not visible from the outside, so it was the logical endpoint for trips by wormhole. Three figures shimmered into existence, then the swirling lights faded away. 

To Nanami's shame, it was Ifurita who recovered first. She stepped forward. "Princess Rune. Princess Fatora. We are honoured." She bowed low. 

Their very presence here was enough of a shock, but it was their appearance that had really thrown Nanami. Makoto must have taken these clothes to the palace without telling anyone else. Rune really did look like a supermodel. And she had to admit that Fatora looked pretty cute... though Nanami was biased for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Fatora. "Wow, this sure is a surprise. Welcome to Earth." 

"Thank you," Rune answered. "I'm sorry we've come without warning. But if Londs found out about this excursion, I'm afraid it would do his health no good." 

"You came in secret?" 

"We felt it was for the best." 

"Sorry about not telling you," Makoto said. "More people than Londs would be very nervous about this. But they insisted on coming over." 

"It will probably be the last time," Rune said. "And we can't stay very long. But I wanted to visit your world at least once." 

"We are having dinner soon," Ifurita said. "I hope you can stay at least that long." 

"We'd love to," Fatora said. "Nice audience chamber, by the way." There was just a hint of her usual overbearing haughtiness, if Nanami didn't know better she'd say the compliment sounded almost genuine. She had noticed before how remarkably well behaved Fatora was in the Demon God's presence. But the way she looked at Ifurita was eerie - there was as much hunger in her eyes as fear, the way an alcoholic might view a bottle just out of reach. There was probably a story behind this... Nanami wasn't sure whether she wanted to know. 

Makoto chuckled. "This isn't a palace, Fatora-san. I'm afraid this is the largest room we've got. Excuse me, I should go lock this up," he said, hefting the staff. "We don't have guards here, so I don't like to just leave it lying around." 

"Oh dear, do you have problems with bandits?" Rune asked, looking very worried. 

"No, he's just being careful," Nanami said quickly. Her eyes darted over to Makoto for just a moment. *Dammit, watch what you say.* "Besides, we're very well protected today, what with the three Great Priestesses, Ifurita and Fujisawa Sensei all being here. But like Makoto said this isn't a palace so you'll have to put up with cramped quarters." 

"You should let us show you the garden before it gets dark," Ifurita said. "Not much is in bloom, but the autumn colours in this country are very striking." Nanami smiled. She sure seems to be enjoying herself now. 

"I've heard it's really cold," Fatora said, her tone implying that would be entirely unacceptable. 

"It's not too bad today," Nanami assured her. "And we've got jackets you can borrow. Come on, why don't we go meet the others." Makoto locked away the staff and they all followed Nanami down the long hallway to the living area. She found herself looking forward to this. All the people here were part of the Band of Brothers who had fought in the War and gone on the Quests together. It had been a long time since they had all been together. And in their own humble little home, no less. Might never happen again. "Hey everyone, look who-" 

"*Fatora-samaaa!*" 

"*Makoto-samaaa!*" 

Nanami sighed. "Incoming..." she muttered under her breath. 

---------- 

"Man, look at her *go*!" Hayashi cried in open astonishment. "I can't believe she has never skied before." 

"Trust me, she hasn't," Makoto assured him. "Not before today." They watched from their table at the lodge's balcony as Ifurita and several of their old high school buddies sped down the slope. They were all avid skiers and all quite good. But Ifurita stood out among them, executing each turn with perfect machine precision. 

"Nobody can get that good after one run on the beginners' slope." 

"She can." Hayashi just stared at him. His old friend smiled. "Still having trouble accepting it?" 

"Yeah, I suppose I am." 

Makoto suddenly looked sad. "I wish I could give you the thing you want." 

Hayashi had never even asked. But Makoto was right, he wanted nothing more. "Am I that transparent?" 

"It's what I'd want if our positions were reversed. And believe me, I'd love to take you there. But if I start doing that, pretty soon it will be impossible to deny the truth." 

"I know. I read the manga. 'Plausible deniability,' right?" 

"More or less. I'm sorry." 

Hayashi shrugged. "Oh well. It's nice to at least know that it's all true." 

"Can I ask you something?" 

"Sure." 

"Why *do* you believe?" 

Hayashi chuckled. "Same reason your mom and dad believe. Everybody else thinks you're just a pathological case of my old SF fan circle. I'd go around calling myself Fleet Admiral of the Galactic Federation. They figure you and the others just put a lot more work into living your fantasy. But I tried getting you interested in the SF club and I know you're not like that. You couldn't come up with something like this, you've got no imagination to speak of." 

"Gee, thanks." 

"Well, if you want me to put it in a nicer way, you couldn't tell a lie to save your life." He looked out towards the slope again. "Looks like your wife's already lining up for the ski lift again. Maybe this time she'll break a world record." 

"I'll have to speak with her about showing off like this. She's supposed to be only human after all." 

"Say, can you do me a favour?" 

"What favour?" 

"Next time your friends come through the wormhole for a visit, ask them if they'd all like to come down to Komike in costume." 

"Give me a break." 

End Chapter 2 

Next Chapter: Awakening 


	3. Default Chapter Title

This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction based on the El Hazard series. Note that it is based on the continuity of the two OAV series and the second television series "The Alternative World". It certainly contains spoilers for the first OAV series, and a few for the second OAV series. At this point, six chapters are planned. Though I call them "chapters" they are more or less independent stories (which is what I said about my Sailor Moon stories, so you're free to believe as much of that as you like). 

El Hazard and characters therein were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura, and brought to North America by Pioneer LDC. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply. I'll give this one a PG rating. 

Ken Wolfe 

Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca 

El Hazard - Earth Chapter 3 - Awakening 

Prologue 

Nanami was surprised to see Makoto already in his suit and tie when he emerged from the bedroom wing into the big open living area. "Well, you're off to an early start this morning." 

"Wouldn't do to be late for my big presentation." 

"Have a seat," Nanami said, pointing to the table where she'd set three places. While Makoto helped himself from the rice cooker, she took the steaming pot of miso soup from the range and served both of them. She set it to simmer and went to sit down. "What's that, last minute changes?" 

He glanced at the manila envelope he had brought with him. "Just a few thumbnail sketches of some alternate designs, in case they're interested." 

"Mind if I have a look?" 

"Be my guest." 

She slid the folder closer and opened it up. "Oh, a six-legged one. Inspired by the Bugrom?" 

He chuckled. "They may be nervous about going straight to a bipedal model. This would be a more stable, conservative approach." 

"So you really figure they can build these?" 

"They can. It's just a matter of getting them to accept the idea." 

Nanami wondered what the people at Shinohara Heavy Industries would think if they knew where Makoto had got these ideas from. "Are you taking Junior with you this time?" 

Makoto glanced over at Junior standing unobtrusively in the corner of the living room and smiled fondly at his creation. It was a half-scale working model of the guardian robot that Makoto had inadvertently activated two years ago back in Floristica, something he had been working on long ago in an attempt to understand the ancient Living Machines of El Hazard. He had completed it here with local materials, to help mask its origins. Lacking the armor which concealed the original's innards, Junior would certainly win no beauty contests. "No, this meeting is with the execs, not the engineers." 

Nanami whistled. "They were that impressed, huh?" 

"Junior can't do much, but it's a lot more than any other bipedal robot on this planet can do." 

And he was selling them the technology for a song. No wonder they were tripping over their tongues. "Just remember your promise." 

He smiled. "Of course. Once they've bought into it..." he swiped his hands back and forth in a wash-my-hands gesture. There were a variety of reasons they had agreed to minimize their association with this little technology transfer. Makoto was excited about it, but thankfully he was exercising some common sense too. 

"You ought to let Ifurita make the presentation, that way you'd have the cheesecake factor working for you." 

"Nanami!" 

"Hey, use whatever advantage you've got." 

"Well, these execs are all old-timers, former engineers. I think the idea of a woman understanding principles of engineering would give them a cerebral hemorrhage." There was a hint of a smile. "Besides, I worry about Ifurita's ability to gracefully take no for an answer." 

"So when can we expect you back?" 

"Sometime this afternoon. I'll call before I head back. Can you tell that to Ifurita when she gets up?" 

*Just as I thought.* "You didn't have her up to the wee hours of the morning did you?" She managed to keep her tone casual. 

"No. She was helping me yesterday, but she turned in early." 

Which she had been doing a lot of lately. And sleeping in. "Sounds like your wife is getting lazy." As if. 

There was a false ring to his laugh. "She's just trying to fit in with us mere mortals, that's all." 

"Is that why I actually beat her at tennis last week?" 

"Maybe you're just getting better. Having a cyborg opponent will probably do that, you know." 

Just like last time, he was making a joke of it. Nanami resisted the urge to press him. She had learned a while ago that he had a blind spot where Ifurita was concerned. "Maybe I should try and introduce the game to Rostalia. I'd get more practice, and if it catches on I could make a killing selling tennis equipment. Oh don't give me that look, I was kidding about that last bit." 

Makoto's disapproving look melted into a smile. "Actually I like that idea. We should discuss it the next time we have a quorum." The 'quorum' he spoke of was called either 'the technology and culture transfer review committee' or 'the usual lunch crowd' depending on how you looked at it. Its core was the three Earthlings and the three Great Priestesses... and it also included whoever else tagged along for lunch. 

"Couldn't be any more severe than introducing robots to Earth." 

"We're not 'introducing' robots to Earth..." 

Nanami smiled and waved her hand dismissively. "I know I know, I'm just razzing you that's all. By the way, do you think you could take me back tomorrow?" 

"Sure, no problem." Makoto was of course stuck with providing the interdimensional taxi service. The fact that Ifurita never took over the task herself was another of the little things that Nanami had been wondering about lately. 

"Sounds like you'll need to stick around here while this deal with Shinohara is pending." 

"Yeah, I'm figuring a couple of months or so. We'll still pop over at least once a week." 

It was still odd hearing him talk that way. *Yes, we'll come over to El Hazard for the weekend.* In fact all of them had been spending most of their time in Rostalia. Makoto and Ifurita spent a bit more time over here, they seemed to enjoy having the place to themselves once in a while. Usually when the Rostalians came to stay all or most of them came together. The same normally applied to Nanami - however warmly she was welcomed, she couldn't help but feel like an intruder when she was here by herself. 

But she had now come to the conclusion that there was something going on here that she needed to deal with. 

--***-- 

It was nearly two hours after Makoto had left that Ifurita emerged from their bedroom. Like him, she was already dressed. Unlike him, she looked like she hadn't had enough sleep. Even though it had been nearly ten hours. She smiled. "Good Morning, Nanami." 

Nanami laid down the magazine she had been reading. "Morning sleepy head. You missed breakfast by a mile." 

"That's okay, I'll make myself some bacon and eggs." 

Nanami had seen the late breakfasts Ifurita had been making for herself lately. Four eggs and half a pig. "Ooh, my arteries harden just thinking about it. Ifurita, if you're trying to make the rest of us girls jealous of your metabolism you're doing a fine job." 

She smiled shyly. "I'm sorry, I don't really mean to." 

Which means you're really that hungry. Interesting. Nanami got up from the couch and headed towards the kitchen that opened onto the living area. "Here, I'll give you a hand." Nanami wasn't somebody who could watch other people work. Which made this look perfectly normal and innocent. Well and good. 

"Thank you." Ifurita followed her into the kitchen. "Did Makoto leave for Shinohara Industries on time?" 

"Bright and early. Should be making his pitch to them as we speak." 

"Did he look nervous?" 

"Nope, not a bit." Which was the truth. But it didn't seem to give Ifurita much comfort. Then Nanami hit on what the problem was. I saw him off, you didn't. You wish he hadn't let you sleep in. But of course he would, Makoto being who he is. "I've got champagne in the fridge, I thought Makoto might like a little celebration tonight." 

Ifurita put the frying pan onto the stove and turned to smile at Nanami. "That was very thoughtful, Nanami." 

"It'll make a nice surprise. Here, catch." She threw two eggs at Ifurita. 

Weeks ago Nanami had seen Ifurita juggle four eggs at once, had seen her juggle four *knives* at once, usually when goaded on by Shayla. She had seen the Demon God snatch flies out of the air with chopsticks. By their wings. 

It had been a good, easy toss, Nanami probably could have caught them both herself. But Ifurita's clumsy attempt failed spectacularly. Plop, plop. Ifurita looked down at the two cracked shells slowly leaking egg white onto the floor tiles. "Oh... I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." 

"Uh huh." Nanami stared her down, arms crossed. 

Ifurita's brow knitted in an angry frown. "You shouldn't have thrown them so suddenly," she said defensively. 

"What's going to happen the next time Shayla challenges you to a juggling duel?" Ifurita's look of indignation was looking less convincing by the moment. She was the one to break the stare-down. She knew she'd been found out. There was no sense of victory, quite the contrary. Nanami sighed. Without a word she pulled a couple of paper towels off the roll and went to clean up the eggs. Ifurita watched her in silence. Nanami washed her hands then turned back to Ifurita again. She spoke more gently this time. "Makoto must have noticed by now. I'm sure you've got him convinced you're just trying very hard not to be supergirl, for the benefit of us mere mortals. But the others are going to start noticing soon, if they haven't already. Don't you think it's time you told us what's wrong?" 

Ifurita wrapped her arms around her as if from cold, and turned her head aside. Nanami would almost say she looked ashamed. "It's not easy for me to talk about." 

"Would you prefer to talk to Makoto about it?" 

"No." She looked back at Nanami, and continued, the urgency in her voice now under control. "No, that's not it. I meant no offense." 

"None taken. Maybe we should go sit down." To her relief, Ifurita nodded. On the way to the living room, Nanami picked up two of the little cups and set out tea for them. Ifurita didn't touch hers, she just sat looking very troubled. It looked like she would need some prodding. "Ifurita, are you sick?" 

"Right now, I'm just weak. But it will get worse." 

A cold, sharp dread gripped Nanami's heart painfully. The way Ifurita said that... oh God please no, that would destroy him. "Is it serious?" she asked in a very carefully modulated voice. 

"I didn't think so at first. But it could become serious." 

"So you know what it is?" 

She nodded. "Since Makoto freed me from the power staff, I have not had a direct power boost from it. I can take some energy from it indirectly, by its mere presence. I thought that and the organic food I've been taking would be enough. For a while it was. But recently my primary systems - the battle systems I no longer use - have started to deteriorate. They're starting to release toxins into my blood. Perhaps it's a design flaw... or perhaps it's part of my design." That last bit was said with a cold bitterness that chilled Nanami to the bone. "Whatever the case, it seems I am utterly dependent on the staff, maybe for my very life." 

Nanami shook her head. "I don't understand. Is there some reason Makoto can't just wind your spring like Jinnai did?" Ifurita looked away again. This time the expression of shame was unmistakable. Shame, and fear. 

In a flash, Nanami had it. Not fear of death, as she had thought. Fear of being reminded of what she used to be. Of Makoto being reminded. Nanami's choice of words loomed over her like an accusation. *wind your spring like Jinnai...* Oh damn. Well, the damage was done, best to just deal with it. "Ifurita, if it's making you sick then you've got to ask Makoto to help you fix it. I mean, it's just like asking Makoto to give you a flu shot or something, right?" 

"It's much more than that." The Demon God's eyes met Nanami's. Reluctantly. "At first I almost welcomed the increasing burden my implants were putting on my system. I thought they were simply shutting down, and that I could look forward to becoming something close to human. But now..." she looked away again. "I must ask him to make me into a Demon God again." 

"Well, so what? So you've got a few superpowers, join the crowd. Look, it's not going to be a big deal. Just ask Makoto to do it when he gets back. Then we'll sit down, have some champagne, celebrate this robot project he's so excited about." 

Ifurita sighed. "I know I'm being foolish. I just dread this so much." Nanami studied her carefully. Now that she was opening up just a bit her real feelings about the matter were coming through in her body language. Humiliation, degradation. 

How would I feel, being wound up like a child's doll? 

"Would you feel more comfortable if I did it for you?" 

Ifurita looked just as astonished as Nanami felt. "You?" 

*Jeez, where did that come from?* She just hated it when her mouth decided not to bother consulting with her brain. "Well.... you know, 'cause we're both girls. I thought it would be less embarrassing." 

"You would do that for me?" 

"Sure. I mean, if you want to." She couldn't help letting her growing trepidation show. "There's nothing to it right? If my shit bro- uh, how difficult can it be?" 

"It's very simple." The hope in Ifurita's face was almost too much to bear. 

"Would you like to do it now?" 

"Yes." When Ifurita stood up Nanami felt compelled to quickly do likewise, like she was being carried along. "It will cause some light and noise, we should do it in the doujou where there are no windows." 

"Right." Nanami realized Ifurita would need to undress. "You want me to wait for you there? I mean while you... get the staff." 

"Thank you. I'll be there shortly." Her eyes threatened to mist over. "I can't thank you enough, Nanami. You've lifted such a burden from me." 

"It's my pleasure. I'll see you shortly." She walked to the doujou while Ifurita went back to her bedroom, where the vault containing the staff was hidden. Nanami put her hand to her forehead and sighed. This was your idea girl, so no complaints. 

She turned on the ceiling lights of the large workout room and paced about nervously. She had seen the tail end of the process by which her shit brother had awakened Ifurita. If power boosts were anything like that, this was likely to be some fireworks display. She hoped it didn't cause a fire or a blackout anything. She really hoped that a fire or a blackout was the worst she had to worry about. 

A few minutes later Ifurita came in through the open door. She was wearing just a yukata now, and she held the staff at her side. Her previous look of elation was now tempered by more than a little trepidation. It was infectious. She locked eyes with Nanami and held out the staff. It felt like being handed the Necronomicon. Nanami reached out and grasped it firmly, more or less keeping her hands from shaking. She was a little relieved to find out that the bulky staff was much lighter than it looked. "So... what do I do?" 

"I will explain." Ifurita undid the belt of her yukata, slipped out of it and let it fall to the tatami mats they stood upon. She was in nothing but her underwear now. It was hard not to stare. *Whoa, if Makoto ever takes her out to the beach she is going to have a drooling hentai fan club in no time at all.* Ifurita turned around, and one hand came around to the small of her back. "This is where the end of the staff fits." Nanami swallowed hard, battling the queasy feeling that suddenly surged up from the pit of her stomach. She had known more or less what to expect, but seeing that plug embedded in Ifurita's skin just looked so Frankenstein. Now she could understand why Ifurita was so shy about sharing the bath with the other women. 

Ifurita turned to face her again. Nanami sincerely hoped that her expression showed no worse than nervousness. "You simply slide the end of the staff into the slot until it locks in place. Then give it ten half-turns clockwise. The discharges will stop after the tenth turn and it will not allow another turn, so don't be concerned about losing count. As I said there will be some side effects, rather like thunder and lightning. But there is no danger and you will not be hurt." 

Nanami nodded curtly. "Okay. Got it." 

Ifurita frowned. "Are you sure you wish to do this now?" 

"Yeah." She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just really afraid I would mess it up. But this sounds pretty simple." 

Ifurita nodded. "Perhaps we should move to the center of the room." 

Nanami followed her further into the room. Her eyes couldn't help but wander down to what she was already thinking of as Ifurita's power socket. "I can sort of see why you'd be embarrassed by this. I mean for heaven's sake this user interface must have been designed by a committee of dirty old men." 

Ifurita turned to fix her with a look of astonishment. Nanami was afraid that her rude joke had gone over poorly. Then the corners of Ifurita's mouth came up incrementally. Nanami laughed nervously. Ifurita turned away from her again. "Whenever you are ready." 

"Okay, here we go." Nanami carefully brought the end of the staff up to the Demon God's power socket. She drove it home rather more forcefully than she had intended. Ifurita's body quivered, and her hands curled up into fists. "I'm sorry," Nanami said remorsefully. "Did that hurt?" 

"No," came Ifurita's gruff voice. Her fists were still tightly clenched, and were trembling slightly. It didn't look like pain... it was something else. *God, she really does hate this. Poor thing.* 

Nanami very carefully shifted her grip to the key-like blade at the other end of the staff. Her hands were slick with sweat, and she absolutely did not want to drop it. She took a deep breath and twisted the staff. It turned easily. There was a sound from Ifurita's socket that did sound for all the world like ratchets in a big clock that was being wound. Blue-white sparks danced around the spot where the staff impaled the Demon God. Again very carefully, Nanami shifted first one hand then the other and gave the staff another turn. This time little sparks played up and down the length of the shaft and danced through the two translucent globes that were embedded along the shaft's length. *That's two.* Carefully, mechanically, Nanami cranked the staff around again and again, trying to ignore the tingling in her hands and the rapidly building intensity of the lightning bolts that played up and down the shaft and across Ifurita's body. *Eight.* The lightning dazzled her eyes now, the sharp crackling of the discharges was deafening. Near panic, Nanami wondered if something was going wrong. But she didn't want to just stop. *Nine.* Her hands felt numb... just one more. *Ten.* 

The lightning stopped. Their afterimages danced in front of Nanami's eyes every time she blinked. There was no sound save the ringing in her ears. She was getting some feeling in her hands again. She could feel them trembling. But it wasn't her, it was the staff. Then she became aware that she was not the only one gasping for breath. 

Ifurita's knees were visibly shaking. Her shoulders came up and down with each shuddering breath. If Nanami didn't know better she'd swear the staff impaled in her back was the only thing holding her up. "Ifurita, are you okay?" There was no answer, no response of any kind. Panic gripped at Nanami's heart again. What had she done wrong? She looked down at where the staff was locked into Ifurita's back. Oh God was I supposed to pull this out right away, is that the problem? She quickly shifted her grip back to the shaft and pulled. It came out easily. Ifurita didn't even seem to notice. 

Nanami laid the staff down on the floor beside her and walked around to Ifurita's front. "Ifu-" the call stuck in her throat as Ifurita's wild, unfocused eyes came into view. She was panting, her quivering lips baring teeth held open by her tightly clenched jaw. Never - not when faced with bugrom hordes or murderous blue aliens - never had Nanami's base instincts screamed at her so insistently. Screamed at her to run. 

Stage One 

Doctor Peter Fedorov hated sleep. His new friends and colleagues here at Tokyo University simply dismissed it as a sign of just another workaholic. Especially his students. He had been quite shocked at how lackadaisical college students in this country could be. He had heard so much about their rigorous school system that made Russian military academies look like a Black Sea resort. But the slow process of learning the language brought with it insights into the culture of his adopted homeland. Yes, after thirteen years that started with kindergarten entrance exams, he would probably want to drink beer and ski for a few years too. Well, actually that wasn't true, the label of workaholic was one he could not deny. But there were deeper reasons for his hatred of sleep. Life was such a fleeting gift, one the world gave grudgingly and took all too readily. Death would bring oblivion quickly enough, to waste life in a state of oblivion was a tragedy. 

Peter had never changed his habit of turning in early... relatively speaking. Which was why as usual he was already on his way to the University at four in the morning. His tiny apartment was but a five minute ride away, or a fifteen minute walk if conditions were unfavorable for bicycles. Which was fortunate, since even in this city that ticked like a monstrous clock no subways or buses were running at this hour. 

Peter set his bicycle into the rack and slid his pass card through the reader to let himself into the laboratory building. Only dim safety lights at the entrances lit his way as he walked down the silent corridor and to his office. Joining the robotics projects last year had provided him with one side benefit. His new office was about twenty times the size of his old one... though only one little corner of it looked anything like what one would call an office. He keyed open the door and hit the light switch within. The rows of florescent lights far overhead flickered to life, revealing the woman standing right in front of him. He dropped his briefcase and bellowed an oath in Russian that involved bovine anatomy and venereal diseases. 

The pale woman simply raised an eyebrow, her neutral expression not changing in any other way. "Doctor Peter Fedorov?" 

Doctor Fedorov stood there, clutching his heart, panting. He waited just long enough to convince himself that he was not having a cardiac arrest. Which gave him some time to size up the intruder. A young woman, very comely. He would guess she was albino, were it not for the deep blue eyes. She was dressed far too nicely to be cleaning staff, which had been his first guess after coherent thought had returned again. His second guess fueled his anger, provided a direction for it. He jabbed a finger at her. "If you are from one of the intelligence services back home, you are in *big* trouble, lady. I am a tenured professor here, if they find out you're harassing me there is going to be a major incident, very embarrassing to whomever you are reporting to." 

Her mildly puzzled look faded, and she shook her head. "I am not from any intelligence service. My name is Ifurita." 

Why did that sound familiar? "What are you doing standing in my office in the dark?" 

"I did not need the lights. And I am here because I wish to speak with you." 

Her unflappable calm was becoming annoying. "How did you get in here?" 

"I manipulated the door locks." 

"You mean you broke in." 

"Yes. I have not damaged anything, nor do I intend to." 

"Well, that's very good to hear, miss Ifurita. Wait, now I remember where I've heard your name. It was in the news a few weeks ago. You're the wife of that young fellow who had gone missing for two years." 

"Yes. Mizuhara Makoto is my husband." 

Peter regarded her closely. Her air of detached politeness held firm, but he couldn't help feeling that somehow he'd touched a nerve. "What is your business with me?" 

The hesitation before she spoke was brief but noticeable. "I need your help. My behavior has recently become irrational, and I don't know why. There is something wrong with me, I need to understand what it is." 

Peter decided to lay aside for the moment the fact that she had broken into his office in the dead of night to ask his help. "Well, my work has touched on psychology at times, but I'm hardly qualified to do clinical work. I think you've got the wrong man." 

"I read your book Android Epistemology some time ago," she said, not at all put off by what he had said. "I believe you are uniquely qualified to help me." 

Android Epistemology? "That book was mostly speculative arm-waving about robot and neural network design. Why did that make you think I can help with your problem?" 

"Because I am an android." 

It was coming back to Peter now, some of the details he'd heard about this celebrated missing persons case. The three people had claimed they were on another planet for two years. And the two men had come back with wives they claimed were aliens. Oh great, as if there weren't enough crackpots in the world. He was caught between the urge to laugh and the urge to tell her to get the hell out of his office and stop wasting his time. He decided to do neither. If this woman truly was disturbed, she deserved better treatment than that. "Well, I must say that you look very human to me." 

Her eyes narrowed slightly. Peter was afraid she had interpreted his tone as mockery. But she simply gave a curt nod. "I understand." What it was she understood was not clear to Peter. "As a man of science, you trust the evidence of your senses." 

It had not been a question, but Peter felt compelled to answer. "Yes. Right now my senses are telling me I am speaking to a young woman just as human as me." 

She raised her hand between them, palm up, like she was expecting him to give her something. A moment later a little orange-red ball of roiling flame flared into existence inches over her palm with a little pop and whooshing sound. Peter involuntarily took a step back. He felt just a mild heat on his face, nothing more. But that alone was remarkable. It meant that this was no illusion. There really was a flame there, generating heat. But it was like the air itself was burning. "What the hell...?" 

"Could a human do this?" He glanced up, to see that her eyes had not left his. Her expression was somewhat more stern now, as if to drive home that she had answered his challenge. "Or this?" The flame disappeared with a pop. A moment later drops of water started spinning crazily over her palm. They rapidly congealed into a little dancing whirlpool of water that gurgled and splashed in midair, spewing off myriad little sparkling droplets then scooping them up again. 

Peter inched closer, less intimidated by this than he had been by the flame. "How the hell do you do that?" he breathed. 

"I manipulate water molecules utilizing forces of nature that have not yet been discovered on this planet." She stuck a finger of her other hand into the impossible water bubble and held it straight out to him. "You can see that it is no illusion." 

Peter reached out and caught the single drop of water that dripped down from her extended finger. As she said, it was no illusion. Then her words fully registered. "My God... that story of yours, it's all true." 

"Yes." The water vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and she lowered her hand. "I am from El Hazard." 

Peter felt faint. "I... I need to sit down." 

"Do you need any help?" 

"No, thank you." He walked more or less steadily to the one really nice swivel chair in the room, the one by his cluttered desk. Halfway there it occurred to him that his briefcase was still sitting on the floor. That just didn't seem terribly important at the moment. He sat down heavily and drew both his hands through his plentiful but graying hair. There would be a few new gray hairs by the end of the day, that was for sure. He looked back up at his visitor, watching him from a respectful distance. She looked exactly the same as when he first saw her, yet now he was seeing something utterly different. Something he had never dreamed he would see in his lifetime. "Ifurita... I have a thousand questions." 

"I understand." She took a couple of steps closer, coming to a more comfortable talking distance. "I'll answer any questions you have. But my need is... rather urgent. I really do believe there is something seriously wrong with me." Her own question was asked wordlessly but eloquently by her imploring, eager face. *Will you help me?* 

Peter nodded. "Okay." It was very surreal, speaking to this woman who had just shown him proof that she was something more than human. It was like his left and right eye were seeing two different things, a woman and a miracle of technology. Peter had always been good at following streams of thought in parallel, so with a little effort he was able to deal with it. "Uh, look. Ifurita. I have to level with you. I must assume that you were created with technology that is decades or centuries ahead of our own. The stuff we do..." he waved his hand in a sweeping gesture that encompassed the busy room. The benches along all four walls and the big table in the middle were a semi-organized mess of computers and half-assembled wheeled robots of various sorts. "It's got to be child's play compared to what must have gone into making you what you are. I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be." 

"It is not really a technical problem, a... hardware problem, I believe you would call it. At least I don't think so. The simple fact is, I have found that I have done things without being aware of them. That is I was unaware of them until I played back records from my internal recorders." 

"I see." Something occurred to Peter just then. "Pardon my asking, but are there no engineers on your own planet who can help you? I seem to recall your story being that you could get back there any time you wanted... teleport or whatever." 

She raised an eyebrow. "Have you not read the fictionalized account of our story? It is reasonably accurate." 

"No, I just read a bit of what was in the news. And some of my colleagues were talking about it. I understand the manga is quite popular, but I confess that's one part of Japanese culture I have never delved into." 

"Well, to be brief, the civilization that created me was destroyed a long time ago. I am able to keep functioning because my systems are self-repairing. Those systems are functioning within normal parameters, as far as I know." 

"I see." Peter closed his eyes tightly and shook his head sharply, something he usually did when he was annoyed with himself. "Sorry, where are my manners. Please, have a seat." 

"Thank you." She walked over to the nearest swivel chairs, picked it up with one hand and carried it nearer to him. Despite the fact that it was on rollers. He found himself suddenly thinking of the Terminator. She set it down gently like it was light as a feather and sat down. She regarded him expectantly. It felt like she was expecting a therapy session. It was more than a little intimidating. 

"Now, what seems to be the problem," Peter was tempted to ask. But he really needed to ask an even more basic question. "Ifurita, if I asked you to design and build an android just like yourself, could you do it?" 

The question seemed to take her by surprise. "No. The Demon Gods were not given the knowledge of how to make their own kind." She frowned. "Is that what you wish me to do? Make you an android?" 

"No no," Peter said quickly, reflexively shaking his hand in front of him, hiding behind it. "I'm interested in how much of your own internal workings you understand and are aware of." 

"I understand only what I am conscious of. And what I have been able to conclude from that." 

"So what you know about yourself you learned strictly through introspection?" 

"Yes." She cocked her head. "Is that going to be a problem?" 

Peter suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Ifurita, you don't read minds do you?" 

It seemed to take just a moment for her to catch his drift. "No, not in the way you probably mean. Your face was radiating less heat, and there were other indicators. You were... I think the word is disappointed. 

It looked like there was no point denying it. "I guess I am. I mean, there go those thousand questions I was going to ask you." 

The corners of her mouth came up incrementally. She looked vaguely embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Doctor Fedorov. Does this mean you won't be able to help me?" 

It seemed she could appreciate irony. "No, I'll do what I can. And just Peter is fine." 

She smiled warmly. "Thank you, Peter." 

Half of Peter's mind responded naturally to her gratitude. The other half was drooling at the thought of finding out what was going on in her head. "I'm flattered that you've come to me for help... overwhelmed, actually. I'm curious, though. If you don't know the details of your internal architecture, how do you know if my area of work will be of any help to you?" 

Again, the android woman hesitated for a moment. "As I said, I read your latest book. That prompted me to read all of your previous works." 

He raised a busy eyebrow. "All of them?" 

"They took longer to find than to read. I visited many university libraries yesterday. Your work spans many fields." 

"You read all that in one day?" 

"In a little more than an hour, all told." 

Not just human intelligence, superhuman. The left side of his mind was crooning now. "And did this allow you to draw any more conclusions about yourself?" 

"I assume I must be some sort of neural network. I believe I have the same sort of conscious experience as other people. When I tell them what I think and feel, people understand. When they tell me, I understand. So I think much of my design must have been reverse engineered from a human brain." 

"Probably a good guess. What about these other things you do, the... creative alchemy, for lack of a better term. What is your experience when you do that?" 

"Much the same as when I do strictly 'human' things like walking. I am aware of doing it, but not the details of how it is done. I acquire the ability in a slightly different way, but otherwise it's like manipulating another limb." She cocked her head. "Is something wrong?" 

He really wished she would stop doing that. "I'm just feeling rather overwhelmed. Your engineers must have done something way beyond reverse engineering a human brain. They actually designed extensions to it. You read how the design of the brain mirrors the design of the body?" 

She nodded. "Yes. Every part of the body is mapped to a part of the brain, both motor cortex and sensory cortex." 

"More or less. If they gave you four arms instead of two they would have to redesign your brain accordingly. But they went one step further, they gave you motor abilities that are qualitatively different. Integrated into your brain is a network that controls the fire and water and whatever else. And presumably whatever senses you saw the blood flow in my face with... is it infrared?" 

"Ultraviolet as well." 

"Okay, so that would mean a complete redesign of your visual cortex. It's just mind-boggling, the magnitude of the task." Her eyebrows were arched, which is what she seemed to do when she was puzzled. She didn't get it. Peter sighed. "Why don't I show you a few things." 

--***-- 

They played with little robots for an hour. Peter had just scattered a bunch of blocks all over the floor and they were watching an oversized bug on wheels gathering them up. "Now watch what it does," Peter said from his chair, pointing. The little bug slowly lumbered along to where two blocks lay. Its motors could move it much faster, its speed was restricted by the rate at which its little brain could process what the mini-camera in its nose showed it. The bug sat there for a few seconds, making little jerks to the left then the right. Finally, it turned and headed for the block on the left, and caught it in the pincers that protruded from its front. 

"That's one of the hardest things to get a neural network to do, resolve two conflicting motivations. It wants both blocks, but can only pick up one at a time to take back to its nest." 

"You really think it wants the blocks?" 

Peter chuckled. "Ah, you caught me. Okay, let me ask you one first. Do you think an earthworm wants to find food?" 

"I would expect so." 

Peter pointed out to the bug slowly making its way back to the collection of blocks it had been gathering. "Little Rasputin there has a neural network that is probably about as sophisticated as that of an earthworm. I'd submit that it has about the same level of consciousness. That is to say, very little indeed. It is capable of wanting something, but maybe only one or two things. Now, consider something like a salamander. Far more sophisticated network, orders of magnitude more complex. It has to be, the salamander has to deal with a more complex environment. Avoiding predators while searching for food. Fighting competitors while searching for a mate. You make another quantum leap in complexity and you've got small mammals. More complex motivations, protecting their young and so on. Make another leap and you've got us." 

Ifurita nodded. "Yes, I read that. You said that consciousness arose as a way of resolving conflicting motivations." 

As they had been playing with the robots she had already demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of pretty much anything he'd written, so it no longer surprised him. "Right. Now here's the point. These clever little toys my colleagues and I have been spending so much time making are many, many orders of magnitude less sophisticated than the networks that are driving you and me. You already know that, of course. But consider what I'm up against in trying to help solve your problem for you." 

Ifurita did think on that for a while. She did not look daunted or disappointed as Peter was expecting. When she spoke, he had the feeling that a barrier had come down. "Peter, I understand what you're trying to say. But it wasn't really your expertise in robotics that prompted me to seek you out. It was your work in philosophy." 

"Philosophy?" Peter couldn't help but chuckle. "I almost got thrown out of the philosophy department. That is, until I quit." 

"I can imagine why they were uncomfortable with your work. You wanted to develop a general epistemology, one that was not restricted to humans. You wanted to think about how any sort of mind would understand the world. Human, animal... machine." 

"And that's why I've been bouncing around departments like a billiards ball." 

"I know. Artificial Intelligence. Neurology. Linguistics. Psychology. Robotics. You've made significant contributions in all those areas." 

"Well, I think you're overstating the case. I've just become an expert in expressing the basic questions of one field in the language of another field, so I fool everyone into thinking that it's new and fresh. You're right about my motivation. My dream is to build a unified theory of cognitive science. I think I'm suffering from Physics Envy." 

Ifurita cocked her head. "Excuse me?" 

"Sorry, it's a poor joke. The point is, I'm very far from that dream. Even after all these years, I'm only just beginning." 

"I think you are further along than anybody else." 

Peter smiled. "Well, I guess I'd better concede the point before you stroke my ego up to dangerous levels." He raised his hand when it looked like she was going to object. "I know, your praise is genuine and it's appreciated - so I'll stop wishing for knowledge I don't have. Are you ready to talk about your problem now?" 

She just nodded, piercing him with that frank, innocent look. 

"Why don't we get that photographic memory of yours working for us, then. You said there were things you did that you weren't aware of until later. Could you tell me what the first of those things was?" He sensed there was something wrong even before she spoke. 

"I killed my husband's oldest and dearest friend." 

Stage Two 

In the space of two seconds, Peter considered and rejected the idea of making a run for it. He swallowed. "What?" 

Ifurita averted her eyes, drew a fidgeting hand through her wavy hair. "I'm sorry, it isn't like that. She's not dead. I was able to save her." 

Peter took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "Ifurita, why don't you start at the beginning and tell me what happened, in as much detail as you can." 

She did. Peter learned about her talisman, the 'staff key' which allowed her to focus and direct far more energy than she could with just her own body. And how Mizuhara had freed her from the bondage it held her in. And how their friend Nanami had tried to rejuvenate Ifurita's failing systems with the staff's power. 

At this point she hesitated. "Did something go wrong?" Peter asked softly. 

"No, the process of 'winding my spring' worked as it should. But it affected me as it never had before. I can only guess it was because this was the first power boost I had received since Makoto had freed me from the staff's hold. Suddenly I was feeling fear, blind rage. I had no idea why, but I felt... cornered. Like some horrible thing was reaching out to snatch away my soul. But what or where that something was, within me or without..." she shook her head. "Of course Nanami was alarmed by the state I was in. She tried to comfort me, reached out to me. She touched my shoulder, nothing more. The next thing I was aware of was her lying on the floor in front of me." 

Ifurita took a shuddering breath. She spoke more hesitantly now, her eyes only making quick, furtive glances in his direction. "I could sense that her heart had stopped. Maybe that was what snapped me out of my paralysis. In just a second I played back what had happened. The moment she had touched me, my hand had shot out and applied a shock that stopped her heart. I knew I had done it, but it was like watching the actions of some stranger. By that point I was panicked, hysterical. But somehow I had the presence of mind to undo what I had done. In just a few seconds I applied a different sort of shock... I believe you would call it defibrillating the heart. It worked. I stood over her, watching her recover. I had no idea what had happened, why I had done that. All I could think was, what if it happened again? What would trigger it? When she started to regain consciousness I just ran." 

She took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. It seemed to calm her a bit. "That was four days ago. I spent the better part of a day in isolation. But introspection provided no quick answers. That was when I entered the city." 

"You were looking for me?" 

"Not yet. I was considering it... I had read your book days ago you see, was already fascinated with your ideas. I decided I needed more time to think before I approached you. At least that was what I told myself. But looking back on it now, if I'm honest about my motivations I have to say that coming to Tokyo was an experiment." 

"Experiment?" 

She sighed. "I don't know any other way to put it. I was using the people of this city as guinea pigs. I wanted to see what triggered my violent reaction." The way she looked at him, his reaction to this was obvious. They both knew by now there was no point hiding it. "I know how that sounds. All I can say is that was how desperate I was. Before I went anywhere near my husband and my friends, I had to understand what was happening to me." 

"And did something happen?" 

She nodded. "Two incidents." Pause. "Neither were fatal. For anyone." 

"Do you feel like talking about it?" 

She answered the question by simply continuing her story. "I did prosaic things. Checked into a hotel, bought clothing, ate dinner, attended concerts, went for walks. In a club where I was waiting to be seated for dinner a man struck up a conversation with me. Even without my enhanced senses it was obvious what he had on his mind. I... did not discourage him. The first time he touched me was when my next blackout occurred. A moment later he was on the floor with a dislocated shoulder." 

"And you didn't remember doing it?" 

"No. Not until I played back my internal recorders. I reset his shoulder for him and left." 

"You... just reset his shoulder?" 

"It was the least I could do. He was in pain, but he will heal." 

Peter decided to just let that pass for now. "And the second incident?" 

"I was sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons. On the next bench a man was having an argument with a little girl whom I presumed to be his daughter. He was insisting they had to go home, but she wanted to stay in the park longer. She was having a temper tantrum, and hung onto the bench when he tried to pull her away. Finally he lost his patience and hit her. She immediately began crying out loud. That was when I blacked out." 

It was difficult for Peter to work up the courage. "And then?" 

"Next I was aware of standing in a dark alleyway, as if hiding there. I played back what had happened. I had simply sprinted away from the park and entered the first dark, isolated place I could find." 

Peter felt a bit relieved by her answer, but also intrigued. He scratched his chin meditatively. "Well, on the surface it looks pretty straightforward. In each case you had a very intense fight-or-flight reaction to a stressful situation. An overreaction, to be sure. Ifurita, you have been in combat situations, have you not?" 

She nodded. "Many times. It is what I was designed for." 

"What you describe is similar to what many soldiers go through after returning from tours of duty. They were in an environment where quick reaction to threat could mean the difference between life and death, so they develop a hair-trigger. They can react violently to very mundane things. A sharp noise, somebody bumping into them, anything. Later they often claim they were not aware of their violent reaction until it was over." 

Ifurita considered that for a moment. Then she shook her head. "In my whole life there has only been one battle when I really feared for my life - and it ended quickly with no bloodshed. Before Makoto freed me from the staff, I was indifferent to the idea of my own death. In fact, looking back on it, some part of me despised what my masters were forcing me to do, and would have welcomed my demise." 

"So you never felt threatened before?" 

"Strangely enough, I felt threatened by Makoto when I first saw him. His journey to El Hazard left him with an ability to link with the Living Machines, including myself. A mere touch flooded me with visions of his life, a life lived freely and happily. It threatened the whole basis of my existence. But a short while later he freed me from my chains, and I knew that same happiness myself. He was no longer a threat, he was my salvation. The only other time was..." Her voice trailed off. 

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" 

Ifurita sounded very awkward again. "I told you how I felt after the power boost, just before my first blackout. It was not just a vague, baseless terror I felt. There was *something* that I feared, something that I should have been able to remember but could not." 

It looked like there wasn't much point in pursuing that. At least, not directly. "I'm wondering if this is some conditioned reflex that was drilled into you. Did you have... oh, I hardly know what to call it. A period of training, learning?" 

"I have some vague memories. More so than human beings I learn by mimicry. I recall watching and participating in mock combat with other Demon Gods, and with lesser weapons. But it was just like my later experiences. I learned defensive measures that could save me in combat, but they never meant anything to me except as another set of weapons and tactics. Until I met Makoto I don't think I had what you would call a survival instinct. Self-preservation was simply another directive I was forced to obey." 

"It could be a reflex that was somehow planted in you without your even knowing it. Your mind is obviously at least as sophisticated as our own, I think it's perfectly valid to think of you as having a subconscious. And it's conceivable that your engineers took advantage of that. Researchers here have been able to do that with human beings, in a crude way, through hypnotic suggestion and whatnot." 

Ifurita's expression of calm skepticism didn't budge an inch. "But I have never acted without thinking in battle. I know that, since I always played back tapes of any battle to analyze them. I was always fully conscious of what I did." 

Peter sighed. "Well, something is obviously different now." He was beginning to think that Mizuhara had broken something when he freed her from the staff key. Presumably Ifurita's engineers had built in barriers against that very thing happening - perhaps some other important governors had been dismantled along with those barriers. He was reluctant to suggest this to Ifurita just yet. "It sounds like the best thing we've got to go on is this *thing* you were afraid of before your first blackout. Is it possible to 'play back' that moment from your internal recorders?" 

"Yes. But I'm not sure what good it would do. It would simply give me a very vivid memory of what I was seeing and hearing at the time, not what I was feeling." 

"That may be enough. What I'd like you to do, if possible, is play that moment back and just come up with words to describe the thing you were afraid of. Anything, even just one word." 

Ifurita frowned. "That could be dangerous." 

"You mean to me, I presume. Yes, I've thought of that, believe me. I won't move or make a sound, that way I won't be a threat." 

After a moment, she nodded. "all right." Her brows knitted, as if she were in deep concentration. He could see no other reaction. She may or may not have been quivering ever so slightly. When she finally spoke, it was as if in a trance. "Big. Bigger than me. Old. Old as the world. Watching me. Always. Many. Angry. They hate me. They hurt me." Her face transformed before his eyes, like an uncomprehending mortal faced with the terrible wrath of a raging god. "No..." it was a tiny voice, almost a squeak. Then she shivered and drew in a deep breath. It was over as soon as it had begun. Now there was only concern. "Peter, did I do anything?" she asked anxiously. 

"You blacked out, didn't you?" 

"Yes. I think so." She paused. He assumed she was playing back the moment. "All I did was say one word." She sounded bewildered, but more than a little relieved too. 

"Are you feeling okay now?" 

"Yes. But I really did feel that same fear again. Just before I blacked out." 

"Is it any clearer what you were afraid of? Don't replay that moment again, just tell me if there's anything obvious." 

She shook her head slowly. "No. I don't know what they were. The words I spoke, they just seemed correct somehow. But I still don't know what they are, these things." 

"You're saying 'they' now. That's something new." 

She looked taken unawares. "I don't know why." 

Peter sighed. "Well, I'm really going out on a limb here, but..." 

Ifurita's face lit up. "You've thought of something?" 

"Something, yes. The right thing, I don't know." He just couldn't bear to look into those wide eyes and withhold his idea, even though he knew it was wildest speculation. "I'll have to speak in analogy here. Consider a child, her consciousness slowly forming as her body does. She is learning to understand her world. It is a world of giants, adults who tower over her and are a basic force in her world just as gravity and momentum are. They are omnipotent and omniscient, they are everywhere. They are demanding, forcing her to do things that to her are incomprehensible. They are impatient with her, quick to judge and easily angered. No matter how hard she tries to please them, they find fault with her. Punish her." 

Ifurita looked fascinated. Not in the detached way he had seen before, but in an intense, personal way. He forged ahead. "What I have just described is the sort of experience most people can recall from their early childhood. For most, growing comprehension of the rules by which the giants live brings an end to the nightmare. But consider a child for whom the nightmare does not end. Instead it only gets worse. The giants find yet more incomprehensible, horrible things for her to do. They no longer just hurt her when she makes a mistake. They do things to her. They do things that change her, so that she can do even more terrible things. She wonders if she will ever understand the purpose behind this madness. 

"Then one day they explain it to her. It's very simple. She is going to be their slave. Their tool. Their weapon. Forever and ever." 

Ifurita looked stricken. He felt both sympathy for her and trepidation over what he had done. He simply waited. After a while, Ifurita looked intently at him once again. "Peter, I'm at a loss. I feel as if you've told me about a part of myself I've never seen. Yet I have no memory of any such things. I don't know what it means." 

Peter sighed. "Okay, here's the part where I go out on a limb. I'll tell you my theory." He leaned forward. "I think what Makoto did to you not only released you from your former slavery. I think it released subconscious memories you had been keeping buried for a very long time. Memories of your childhood." 

Ifurita's eyes went wide. "Childhood?" She said it as if invoking the name of an idolized and feared divinity. 

Peter nodded. "That's right. I don't think you're an android at all. I think you're a cyborg. You had machines implanted in you to make you into a weapon of war. But other than that, I think you're as human as I am." 

Stage Three 

Peter was becoming worried. It had been over a minute now. He could almost believe that he had pushed her into some sort of catatonic state. She did not look distressed as she had during her blackout, but nevertheless he was very reluctant to disturb her. Maybe throw something at her from across the room? 

He jumped when she suddenly looked up at him again. "Is it possible?" she asked. 

"As I said, it's a theory," Peter answered. Now that he had her attention and she was calm, he wanted to keep her focused, keep her thinking. "Even if it's not true, there's one thing I am pretty sure of. You're not a programmable digital machine like these things." He pointed at the PC on his desktop. "You're more like my little Rasputin. We reversed-engineered much of its neural net from the nervous systems of lower invertebrates. Your engineers must have done much the same with you, studying their own neuroanatomy and modifying the design to fit their requirements. The point is, we didn't program Rasputin to collect blocks. All we did was set up feedback loops that would lead to instabilities if it did not have a nice collection of blocks nearby. Call it a motivation if you like. That instability prompted it to go out and learn to find and pick up blocks. At first it was hopeless. It was like watching an infant trying to do a jigsaw puzzle. But eventually it learned, as a child does. It's pretty good at it now." 

"But why do I not remember?" she asked. 

Peter got the impression she was still fixated on this idea of her being human. Maybe it had been a mistake, suggesting that so early. It was still an open question, he would have to keep it that way. "There are different sorts of memories. Learned behavior and skills. Memorized facts. Recollection of past events. All these sorts of memories can be the result of common events, but they are stored and used differently. It is entirely possible that you had an early training period that taught you skills like hand-eye coordination, language and social interaction. I have those same skills too but I certainly don't remember everything about how I obtained them." 

"Yet you do remember things about your childhood." 

Peter really was beginning to regret having brought that up. "Yes, but the further back I go the more spotty the memory is. Humans learn their most important motor skills, language skills and social skills before the age of five. Yet few of us have many specific memories from that far back." 

"I have none." 

It looked like there was no getting away from this. "Ifurita, I'll tell you what I think. I have no idea whether you were a human child who was operated on or whether your biological components were grown artificially. There may be no way of knowing. Frankly, I don't think it makes much difference. Either way, you started life as a blank slate with just a few tendencies built into your network. Instincts, if you like, just like a baby has the suckling instinct. You mentioned that you learn by mimicry. For complex behavior that means you must have had teachers from whom to learn by example. No doubt they were harsh taskmasters. They had very specific ideas about what they wanted you to become. They would have been relentless in their efforts to mold you into that role. They would have seemed to you like cruel, domineering parents." 

"So they are the things I am afraid of?" 

"Yes, I think so." He was not nearly as certain as he sounded. But after all when he was this far out of his league what was one more leap of faith. 

Ifurita thought about that for a moment. "It makes sense. But Peter, the people who made me what I am are long dead. How can I fear something that's not there?" 

"It's not that simple. If you were mistreated, then removing the people who mistreated you doesn't change what happened. As I understand, what Makoto did gave you back your freedom to do as you will. Maybe that also made you free to act on impulses that were imbedded in your behavior by this past trauma." 

Ifurita shook her head, looked upon him with new resolve. "I have to find out what happened to me." 

Peter nodded, encouraged by her answer if not by the edge of urgency in her tone. "You've made a start today. But I suspect it's going to be a long process." 

She shook her head again, more sharply. "You don't understand. I can't go back to Makoto until I've laid this to rest. If I..." she shuddered. "I can't risk hurting him." 

"I understand," Peter said softly. "Listen, I'll do everything I can to help you, okay? But it's going to take time. For now, why don't you call him up and tell him the situation." 

"No," she said flatly. "If he knew where I was he would come to me. And I can't bring myself to lie to him. He must be worried sick by now. I just don't know what to do." 

She was becoming too agitated for Peter's liking. But he felt just as lost as she did. Which meant it was time for yet another stab in the dark. "Okay, how about this. When I asked you to play back the moment before your first blackout, that brought out some new memories of your past, even if they were very vague. Maybe repeated iterations will bring out more. But Ifurita, even if that does work it's just the first step. You'll have to come to terms with whatever you remember." And never mind that she should be doing this with a clinical psychologist, not an ex-philosopher turned robot engineer. 

Ifurita really did look like a lost child now. It was becoming harder and harder for him to think of her as being anything other than human. Abruptly her face lit up - or at least that was how he perceived the sudden lifting of her distress. "Peter, in one of the papers you co-authored you talked about hypnotic regression therapy. Would that work on me?" 

Peter threw his hands up. "Whoa, wait a second. Slow down. That is a very experimental technique. It's still in its infancy despite what its practitioners claim. There have been some encouraging results, but it's got a spotty record at best. There are only a few people qualified to practice it, and I'm certainly not one of them." 

Ifurita looked undaunted. "In your paper you explained what you thought was happening in the patient's brain when in the hypnotic state. You explained how it differed from both the normal waking state and the sleeping state. It seemed to make sense." 

"I don't see how that helps. You would still need a qualified therapist, that is assuming this would work on you at all. I was only interested in it from the point of view of linguistics and consciousness. The process of hypnotism fascinated me, the way it so dramatically changed the patient's state of consciousness just using words. I certainly didn't learn enough to practice it." 

"I don't think I would need a hypnotist. I could put myself into the hypnotic state without help." 

"Ifurita, what makes you think you could do that?" Peter said very carefully. 

She slowed down a bit, explained more calmly. "It's something I do without thinking, that's why I never thought to tell you about it. I have much more control of my state of consciousness than humans. Even when fully powered I still need a small amount of sleep. A short nap every few days is enough. I can put myself in and out of that state at will. But it's more than that, I can set myself to a kind of sentry mode where I react only to specific sorts of stimuli. When I read your account of the hypnotic state I was certain that this was in fact what I had been doing to myself." 

"I suppose you want to try this?" Peter felt like he had just stepped over a cliff. 

She seemed to pick up on that. "It won't be dangerous. In that state, I would be essentially paralyzed. We will just have to agree on a benign stimulus to return me to normal consciousness." 

Peter sighed. He looked up at the clock. The early risers would be arriving soon. "Okay, I'll go put up the 'Do Not Disturb' sign." And I sure hope we know what we're doing. Yeah, right. 

--***-- 

The couch was normally for when Peter couldn't even spare the few minutes it would take to go to his apartment and back. As he watched, Ifurita took off her shoes, laid back and made herself comfortable. Peter wheeled his good chair up beside her, sat down and flipped open his notepad. "Well, I always knew the day would come but I despaired of ever seeing it." 

Ifurita turned her head to look up at him. "Excuse me?" 

"For a long time I've believed that one day computer programmers and robot engineers would become android therapists." 

He was happy to see her smile. "Do you remember the signals?" 

"When you open your eyes, I can start asking questions. When I'm done, I count down from five to one and snap my fingers." 

"Correct." She hesitated, as if unsure about what she wanted to say next. "Peter, this is very important to me. No matter how painful it is, I want to uncover what happened to me. It's not just to help cure me. It's to find out who I am. Please, even if you think I'm suffering, help me find out everything I can." 

Peter nodded. "Don't worry, Ifurita. I'll do my best." It was the only sort of promise he felt able to give. 

"Thank you." She looked straight up and then closed her eyes. Her expression became neutral. It already looked like she was asleep. 

In an astonishingly short time, her eyes flipped open again. It seemed like it hadn't been long enough, he wondered if something had gone wrong. She stared at the ceiling vacantly. He decided to just watch her for a minute. She remained perfectly still - except for her eyes blinking with perfect regularity, as if to some internal clock. 

Finally he decided to test the waters. "Ifurita, can you hear me?" 

"Yes." Her voice was soft, slow and emotionless. 

Well, here goes. "Ifurita, can you remember the first Demon God you defeated in combat?" 

"Yes." 

"What was her name?" 

"She was of the Banshee series." 

Peter already knew this. He had just spent over an hour questioning her on the parts of her past she did remember, to give him points of reference. He checked off the item on his notepad. 

"Do you remember the first city you destroyed?" 

"Yes." 

"What was it called?" 

"Ithilien." 

So far so good. He asked her several other questions basis what she had told him previously. Her answer matched correctly each time. Gradually, he took her back further in time, closer to her earliest memories. 

Finally, he got to the point where he was stepping across the line. "Ifurita, can you remember when you had the last of your battle implants installed?" Ifurita had admitted no memory of having any of her implants installed. 

"Yes." 

"And did the implants work after they were installed?" 

"Yes." 

"Were your masters happy with the results?" 

"Yes, they were very happy." Her voice was still toneless, devoid of life. 

"Can you remember the last time your masters were not happy with you?" 

There was just a moment's hesitation before she answered. "Yes." 

"And how did you know they were not happy with you?" 

The change that came was subtle, almost subliminal. But he had been watching her utterly still, expressionless face so intently that he picked up on it immediately. There was a tightening of her mouth and throat, a twitch of her eyebrows. He began to wonder if she were coming out of the trance. But there was no other sign of life. He got nothing but a vague impression of unease and tension. "Ifurita, can you hear me?" 

"Please don't hurt me." If he hadn't seen her lips move he would swear it was another person speaking. It was the same tiny voice he had heard during her brief blackout. The hints of stress in the voice were now more subtle, but still unmistakable. 

"I'm not going to hurt you," Peter assured her. "Nobody is going to hurt you. You're safe here. I just need you to answer a question. Now, Ifurita, do you remember the last time your masters were unhappy with you?" 

There was a moment's hesitation. "That's not my name," she said in the same high, stressed voice. 

Then Peter understood what was happening. It was all he could do to keep from shouting out another colorful oath from his home country. He just silently cursed himself. Oh great, now you've done it. Congratulations, you've just uncovered the first case of android split personality. So now what are you going to do mister genius cyber-Freud? 

For the moment, he would just work with it. "And what is your name?" 

She hesitated. "Yuki." 

The word meant 'snow'. Peter suspected she was remembering her name's meaning, not it's original sound. Be that as it may, he was obviously talking with somebody else. But that didn't change what he needed to do. "Yuki, can you remember the last time your masters were displeased with you?" 

The cords in her neck stood out for just a moment before she replied. "Yes." 

"And why were they displeased with you?" 

"I did not obey immediately. I hesitated." 

"But you did obey?" 

"Yes." 

"And what was it you had to do?" 

Her face screwed up. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I had to kill mommy and daddy." 

Peter shivered. *My God.* An obedience test. To make sure she would do anything they asked. He felt sick. But he forced himself to think about his next step. He had been taking Ifurita back in time, trying to probe the things she did not remember. But he felt compelled to take Yuki forward, to get her perspective on the periods that Ifurita remembered. It was just a gut feeling, but he decided to go with it. "Yuki, do you remember the first Warlord you served under after your training was complete?" 

Tears had trickled down from each eye. But she seemed to be past the worst of it now. "Yes." 

"What was his name?" 

"Helcore." 

He ticked off an item on his notepad again. Ifurita had remembered him as little more than a name. She had served under many generations of these aristocratic Warlords, the early ones were only dim recollections. So perhaps there was some overlap between their memories. Though as yet he had no idea what to conclude from that. *Nothing, fool, you're flying in the dark and you know it.* He decided to probe forward more slowly now. "Do you recall the first order he gave you after taking possession of your staff key?" 

"Yes." 

"And what did he order you to do?" 

"He made me kill somebody he didn't like." 

It was utterly morbid, hearing her talking about committing what was probably a political assassination in this little girl's voice. "And was he pleased with you?" 

"Yes. He said I was a good girl. He said he wanted to reward me." 

Peter raised an eyebrow. Why would one reward a slave whose obedience was guaranteed? "And did he reward you?" 

By now he was very closely attuned to her level of distress. It shot through the roof. She did not answer. Tears trickled down her face again. Her unease was contagious. Peter was loath to press her. But he had promised to help her uncover the truth, however painful. "How did he reward you, Yuki?" 

"He took me to his bedchamber and told me to remove my uniform." 

Peter took a deep breath and let it out. No. No more. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One." Snap. 

Ifurita closed her eyes, prompting the tears welling up there to trickle down the shining tracks laid down by their predecessors. For a while nothing more happened. Peter was debating calling out to her when her eyes opened again. There was some life in her face again too. She looked mildly astonished. Her hands came up and she wove her fingers into the platinum hair at her temples, pressed her hands against the side of her face. Again, there was no movement save her blinking eyes and her breathing. The fact that she had moved at all gave Peter some relief, it demonstrated she really had come out of the trance. At least he hoped so. He was content to let her be for now. 

He didn't have to wait long. Presently she sat up facing him. Her hands absently wiped at her cheeks, then went down to rest stiffly on the couch at her sides. Her glance drifted into his as if by accident. "How do you feel?" he asked. 

"A little disoriented," she said. It was Ifurita's voice. 

"Is it really Ifurita I'm talking to?" 

She smiled slightly. "Yes, I'm Ifurita." She obviously understood what he was really asking. 

"You must have already played back what Yuki said," he suggested cautiously. 

She shook her head. "No. I remember what she remembered. I remember everything. Yuki no longer exists." 

"Just like that?" Peter said incredulously. 

She smiled at his skeptical tone. "I was aware of everything that was happening. More than that - I was aware of everything Yuki was thinking. I have integrated her memories into my own. I have brought her into myself." 

Peter resisted the urge to simply repeat his statement of incredulity. But he felt bound to test what Ifurita was saying. "So you remember what happened to your mother and father?" 

Her face fell. "Yes," she said sadly. "As a final test of my bondage to them, they made me kill my mother and father." 

"You really remember doing that?" 

She nodded. "I know it's hard to believe, that I suddenly have all those new memories. But quickly integrating new patterns into my consciousness is what I was designed to do, like when I acquire a new weapon. Once Yuki's pattern was made known to me I could internalize it in a matter of moments." 

Peter sighed. "I'm sorry Ifurita. You make it sound so simple, but I don't imagine remembering these things can be easy for you." 

"No, it isn't," she admitted. "But it's far, far better than not knowing." 

"So you can see what it is you were afraid of?" 

"Yes. It was the Masters of the Engineering Guild who made and trained me. I really was a small child when they took me from my parents. As they trained me they did something to change my form. I have to assume it was very sophisticated genetic engineering. Then came the implants. It was in my sixteenth year when I was declared ready to serve my first warlord." 

God, only sixteen when those things happened. "Helcore." He immediately regretted uttering the name. 

Her smile was sad but warm, as if to assuage his concern. "It's okay, I'm not embarrassed to talk about it. By that time I think Yuki was the only one who felt anything about what was happening to me. Even what Helcore did. And he was hardly the last. For Ifurita, the act had no more significance than it would for a plank with a knothole. It was another order to obey." 

"And now?" Peter asked gently. 

She considered for a moment before replying. "Now, I can only feel sorry for them. The Masters, the Warlords, the Kings they served, all of them. They all feared me far more than I ever feared them. Everything they did to me was to allay their fear of me. And yet they just went on creating more and more Demon Gods. They were so pathetic." It was said with more pity than bitterness. 

"Do you at least have a few happy memories now? I mean, of the time before you were taken." 

He could see her visibly relax just a little. "A few. Mostly just feelings. I'm quite certain I was their only child, my parents really doted on me." She couldn't hold back a smile. "I'm sure they spoiled me terribly." 

"I doubt that. You had the courage to endure what was done to you, and then to face the truth about what had happened. They must have done something right, helped give you the strength to bear it. At least you have that." 

"Makoto gave me more happy memories than I ever dared hope I would be granted. I am content with that." 

She had told him about Makoto transferring his childhood memories into her own. Peter would have gladly given up the rest of his life to learn how that worked. "I'd say you've earned every happiness." 

She smiled. "Thank you, Peter." When she spoke next, it was with far more passion. "Thank you." Her expression said *for everything.* 

"I think you did most of this on your own. But I'm happy I was able to help a little." 

"I'll be happy to fulfill my part of the bargain now." Peter didn't bother expressing his puzzlement, he knew by now she would pick up on it. "The thousand questions you wanted to ask." 

Peter chuckled. "Blessed Lady Lovelace, I'd forgotten all about that. Anyway, this isn't the time. You should contact your husband, tell him you're okay." 

The look of gratitude in her eyes was more heartwarming than anything he could ever remember seeing. "You're very kind, Peter. I am anxious to go back home. But I really want to repay you in some way." 

"Well, I'll tell you what. Sometime when it's convenient for you I'd like to borrow your remarkable mind for a couple of days." 

"Is there some task you have in mind?" 

"Not exactly a task. Since you read through all my work in an hour I'd like to give you a slightly longer reading list... something that would take about a day. Then I'd like you to spend a day writing an essay on what you read. It can even be just a stream of consciousness piece, whatever random thoughts you have about what you've read. I would be very interested to see what you come up with." 

"That doesn't seem like much, considering what you've done for me." 

Peter smiled. "Just meeting you has been reward enough. I'd consider this a favor." 

"I'd be happy to do it. For my own sake as well. I assume it is material on cognitive science you wish me to analyze. It may teach me something more about myself." 

"You mean about ourselves." Ifurita arched her eyebrows in puzzlement. "Have you forgotten? You've rejoined the human race now." 

Epilogue 

Makoto assaulted the practice dummy with a ferocity he never knew he had. He was still very much a beginner, be it in Japanese or Rostalian martial arts. But he lay on his small repertoire of attacks with a vengeance. The two priestesses he'd been studying under would have been surprised and impressed. 

That is, if they weren't trapped on another world, now forever out of reach. 

"*No!*" He slammed a fist one last time into the padded surface of the poor helpless stick man. He just held it there, leaning into it, hyperventilating, nearly faint from pushing himself beyond all endurance. Sweat dripped freely from his downturned face onto the mat. *No. Not forever. Only until Ifurita comes back.* 

He staggered out of the dojou and into the bath, peeled off his gi and washed himself. Then he sank down into the tub and closed his eyes. 

Who is it I am so angry with, he asked himself. Nanami? Maybe she should have waited for him. Maybe if it had been him instead of her he would have seen what was going wrong, stopped it before it went out of control. But it was Ifurita who had wanted Nanami to do this thing for her. She should have known better. She should have realized that her link with Makoto might be vital if something went wrong. 

But whatever way he looked at it, it always came back to him. He'd seen the signs of Ifurita's deterioration, in retrospect they were obvious. But he had been so ready to accept her excuses, to believe that everything was okay. He'd been all too eager to try and pretend he was married to the childhood sweetheart of their shared memories and not to a Demon God full of alien military technology that was slowly killing her. No wonder she hadn't come to him, hadn't wanted to shatter his little fantasy. He'd been lost in a self-absorbed delusion that was worthy of Jinnai. And now it might have cost them both everything. He squeezed his eyes tight and clenched his teeth. It was himself he was furious with, himself he was trying to hurt. But no amount of pain would be enough to atone for his folly. 

Makoto dressed and made his way to the living room. Nanami was sitting right where he had left her. The only difference was she was looking at a book laid open on the coffee table. As he approached he saw it was a photo album. Nervously he perched himself on the front edge of the couch beside her, leaning forward. The pictures on the open page were mostly of the Fujisawas and their baby. "I don't think I've seen these," he commented. 

"I only put them in the book last week," she said tonelessly. She did not look up. He couldn't recall any time she had actually met his gaze, not since that horrible day when she'd frantically confessed all that had happened, collapsing into tears and begging for his forgiveness. Of course he'd done everything to try and convince her it hadn't been her fault. But she still didn't believe it. 

"Makoto-san?" 

She'd suddenly become very formal too. He didn't like it. "Yes?" 

She still gazed down at the pictures. Her profile was a picture of quiet misery. "Are we going to have to try and pretend that none of it ever happened?" 

Makoto sighed. He looked down, contemplated his hands steepled between his knees in front of him. "No, we aren't. We'll meet them all again. If she doesn't come back to us then I'll go find her. I've done it before, I'll do it again." 

"Where will you look?" 

"Everywhere." He didn't say it with much conviction anymore. If Ifurita really had fled in a fit of madness, then the staff would open all of space and time to her. He really would need to look everywhere. In this universe and all the others. Or go back and change the past. Or create a new universe where this hadn't happened. Or some other impossibility. 

Nanami stood up. "I'll make us some lunch." He just watched her back, which was pretty much all he saw of her now. She spent a lot of time and effort making elaborate meals, taking care of trivial things around the home, fussing over her investments. Anything to keep from talking to him. But he was no better. He couldn't bring himself to talk about it either. He knew perfectly well she hadn't done it deliberately, she could never do such a thing. Had they drifted so far apart that they couldn't trust each other even that much? It was yet another of his dismal failures. 

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Nanami said. "I'm expecting a delivery." She dashed off to the door. Makoto's gaze drifted to the open photo album. They were due to go back today. Soon their friends in Rostalia would be getting worried. At some point they would realize something was wrong. They had the Eye of God, maybe they could do something. Afura might be able to- 

"*Oh My God!*" Makoto was already on his feet and running. He came around the corner just on time to see Nanami break away from the newcomer's embrace and take her by the shoulders. "Where the hell have you been?" She was trying to sound angry but doing a poor job. He knew her tears were there without seeing them. "Mako-chan has been worried sick! He's a wreck, I've practically had to nurse him day and night! Dammit, if you needed this long to go blow off steam you could have at least called!" 

Makoto was only vaguely aware of all this. "Ifurita." 

She gently took Nanami's hand in order to free herself and stepped aside. She had that same shy, slightly embarrassed smile she used when she'd committed some minor misstep. "I'm sorry. I would have let myself in but I forgot my keys." 

"Is that all you've got-" Nanami had to wait in silence for a full minute before the two of them finally came up for air. She rolled her eyes. "Well, if you two are quite done steaming up the windows I think somebody has some explaining to do." 

There was only one thing Makoto needed to know. "Ifurita, are you okay?" 

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry I made you worry." 

"As long as you're back that's all I care about." 

She turned to Nanami. "I'm so sorry about what happened, Nanami." 

Nanami sniffed and wiped her tears away, trying to win back some dignity. "Well, I wished you'd warned me something like that could happen. I'd have worn kendo armor or something." 

"I didn't know that would happen." 

"You didn't know? I thought you were supposed to know everything." 

"No, I'm afraid I don't." She smiled playfully. "After all, I'm only human." 

The End 

Postscript 

I took the title "Android Epistemology" from a book of essays edited by Kenneth Ford, Clark Glymour and Patrick Hayes, since I liked both the title and the book. 

And yes, it's *that* Shinohara Heavy Industries. I figure if they had mechs by 1999 there must have been some reverse engineering from alien technology involved. 

Next Chapter: The Silent Invasion 


	4. Default Chapter Title

This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction based on the El Hazard series. Note that it is based on the continuity of the two OAV series and the second television series "The Alternative World". It certainly contains spoilers for the first OAV series, and a few for the second OAV series. At this point, six chapters are planned. Though I call them "chapters" they are more or less independent stories (which is what I said about my Sailor Moon stories, so you're free to believe as much of that as you like). 

El Hazard and characters therein were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura, and brought to North America by Pioneer LDC. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply. I'll give this one a PG-13 rating (mainly for the violence content). 

Ken Wolfe 

Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca 

El Hazard - Earth Chapter 4 - The Silent Invasion 

Makoto reached in through the open car window and leaned on the horn again, a short blast and a long, lingering one that would hopefully say "move your sorry ass." 

After a moment, one of the sliding windows at the front of the sprawling house slid open and a mop of tangled red hair leaned out. "What the hell is all the... oh. Makoto." 

"Morning, Shayla," Makoto called, waving. "You seen Alielle?" 

"Not between here and my bedroom, no." Her heavy lids came down the rest of the way and she reached up to rub the sleep out of her eyes. 

"Sorry if I woke you." 

"'Sokay," she mumbled. "Where are you off to at the crack of dawn?" 

Makoto smiled. The sun had risen half an hour ago. Absently, he wondered if Shayla had ever seen a sunrise in her life. Supposedly she had undergone years of rigorous ascetic training, but it was hard to picture that. "It's her first day of school." 

"Oh, right. Heaven help them." She closed the window and disappeared. Makoto sighed. Heaven help them indeed. 

He was about to go back into the house to hunt down his truant charge when the front door slid open smartly. Alielle waved enthusiastically. "Sorry to keep you waiting!" she called. She closed the door with a snap and came running the short distance to the car. She giggled and did a little pirouette in front of him. "So, what do you think?" 

Makoto just shook his head. "Alielle, I told you, that's the summer uniform." 

"But it's warm today," she whined. She grasped both sides of her pleated blue skirt and lifted it out to both sides, letting it fan out. "And I like this one better anyway." 

It was unseasonably warm, that was true. They were having an early spring. "I already explained, everyone is supposed to change to their summer uniforms on the same day. Oh well, you'd better get in. I'll just say a button was missing from the other one or something." 

"Okay!" Alielle ran over to the other side of the car, slipped her school bag off her back and climbed in. "I just love riding in these things!" 

Except for Kauru, who tended to get carsick, all the Rostalians had taken a liking to Earth's motor vehicles. But Makoto had drawn the line at giving Shayla driving lessons. He started the motor. "Seat belt, Alielle." 

"Oh, right." She put her bag down on the floor in front of her and buckled up. She pulled down the overhead sun shade and inspected herself in the tiny mirror, adjusting the kerchief that was tied around her white blouse. "This is going to be so much fun!" 

Makoto pulled out onto the country road that ran in front of their house and accelerated. There was very little traffic this far out of town. "Japanese schools are very strict," he warned her for the tenth time. "You're going to be working very hard, especially since you'll be way behind everybody." 

"Don't be so sure of that," she said playfully, wagging a finger. "I think they're the ones who are going to have to catch up with me." 

"Alielle, reading a few history and science books is not a substitute for the years of schooling your classmates all have under their belts." 

"Humph." Alielle crossed her arms and stuck her little nose up. "I'll bet I've had more rigorous training than any of these kids. It takes more than a pretty face to be a royal concubine, you know." 

"Alielle-" 

"I know I know," she said, waving her hand. "If anyone asks, stick to the cover story. I've got it memorized. I'm from Tadzhikistan, Ifurita is a friend of my family, she's sponsoring me here for two years, I arrived at Narita Airport last week-" 

Makoto chuckled. "Okay okay, you've passed. Still, don't expect to have an easy time of it, at least at first." 

"I can handle it," Alielle assured him. "Like I was saying, I really had to learn a lot before they would even present me to Princess Fatora." She started counting items on her fingers. "I had to play at least two musical instruments, I had to be able to write and recite love poems, I had to be able to recite the history of the Rostalian royal family back all one hundred and twenty three generations, I had to have combat and infiltration training against assassins, I had to do gourmet cooking, I had to learn rules of protocol that make a Japanese tea ceremony look like nothing..." She giggled. "And of course I had to know female anatomy very, very well. All that when I was thirteen, too." 

That would have been just a year before Makoto met her. Which would make her seventeen now. She was still short for her age, so they were passing her off as sixteen to get her into first year high school, hopefully a little less demanding. "Yes, I'm sure you can handle it. I just wanted to make sure you know what you're getting into, I don't want you to be discouraged." 

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides, it's not all work, you were in clubs and stuff, right?" 

"Sure. I was in the astronomy, track and music clubs, but there will be plenty of others. Karate, scifi, ikebana... all sorts." 

Alielle scrunched her eyes up and giggled gleefully. "Oh, this is going to be just great. I can even start my own club if I want, right?" 

Makoto didn't even want to ask. "Yes, I suppose so." 

"I just wish Fatora-sama could be here too." 

"She'll probably be just as busy as you for the next year." 

"I suppose so." 

Makoto glanced over at her. It would be overstating the case to say that her bubble had burst, but she didn't seem to be walking on air any more. "You really miss her, don't you?" he asked gently. 

"Yeah." 

Fatora had finally agreed to seriously pursue the education required to fulfill her duties as second princess regent. Makoto gathered that Ifurita had some part in this change of heart, though he had never asked for details and had no intention of doing so. "She'll be taking a break in a few months," he said encouragingly, feeling bad about having brought her down from her high. "You'll be on summer vacation then, so you'll be able to go see her for at least a week. You can tell her all about the school here, it will be a nice break for both of you." 

"A break?" She sounded utterly astonished, Makoto wondered what he had said wrong. "A break? Are you kidding? We are going to be making mad, passionate, violent love for seven days straight, they are going to have to carry us both out of there on litters." 

Which was pretty much what had happened just before Fatora was sent off to Mount Muldoon and Alielle came here. Makoto coughed awkwardly. "You know, you're going to be very popular with the boys." 

"That's okay. Like I said, I've had combat training." She smiled sweetly at the look Makoto gave her. "Don't worry, I learned non-lethal defensive moves as well." 

It took just a few minutes to reach the suburb where the school was situated. Makoto parked near the walled school grounds and they got out. Alielle stretched and breathed in the morning air with gusto. "Mmm, I like the feel of this place already." 

"Just how does it feel?" Makoto asked with some interest. 

"It's like the whole place is glowing! Especially over there," she pointed. "It's like another sun rising over there." 

Makoto nodded. "The city center is in that direction." 

Alielle pointed again. "And over that wall, it's just bursting with youthful energy. That's the school, right?" 

"Right. Don't worry, it looks like a prison from out here but it's much nicer inside." 

The short girl winked, her red eyes sparkling. "So what do you think, is this really my super power?" 

"It sure looks that way." She had been saying ever since she first visited Earth how much more alive it seemed than El Hazard. Then everyone started noticing how she was developing an uncanny knack for knowing when somebody was approaching her before she even saw them. It certainly did look like she had gained some sort of enhanced perception in the transit to Earth. "Shall we go?" 

She shot a fist high in the air. "Yeah!" 

"Now remember-" 

"I know." Abruptly Alielle was standing at rigid attention. "When I meet the Principal, I give him the greeting you told me and do this." She executed a perfect bow. Then she broke out of her formal stance like an unfolding flower and giggled. "Have I got it down or what?" 

Makoto smiled, and by wordless agreement they headed for the front gate. He resolved to stop pestering her. She could be just as flighty and impulsive as her lover, but with the obvious difference that Alielle knew when it was time to set play aside. This had become more obvious over the past few weeks, and was the only reason Makoto and his friends had agreed to let Alielle try this. 

They walked through the gate onto the school grounds. It was still some time before first bell, so there was just a handful of students making their way to the school. It looked like some of the athletic clubs were getting some quick early morning training in before homeroom. A group of girls in gym shorts and athletic shirts came jogging across their path. Makoto glanced down at Alielle. She was following them with the intensity of a predator bird, licking her lips. Makoto coughed loudly. Alielle started, then slowly turned to meet his steely gaze. She laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. "They certainly look very energetic." 

"You're supposed to be here to learn about our culture, not as an excuse for skirt chasing." 

"Of course," she said sweetly. "The passion of young girls blossoming into womanhood is something that each culture expresses in its own unique way. I'm looking forward to sharing this experience with your people." 

Makoto sighed. "Alielle, please don't make me regret agreeing to this." 

"Don't worry," she chirped, playfully punching his arm. "The age of consent is fifteen here, so there's no problem." 

"*What?*" 

"It's true. I looked it up on that Internet thingee." 

"You actually looked it up?" 

"Naturally," she said somewhat indignantly. "I have to make sure I respect the local laws and customs. I've done my homework, I'm ready for anything this place throws at me." 

You're ready for them, Makoto thought. But are they ready for you? He reminded himself that Rune herself had asked him to arrange an extended stay for Alielle. She hadn't said it in so many words, but having Fatora's concubine on another planet seemed the only way to remove temptation. Makoto doubted it would do much good, there was certainly no shortage of other young women where Fatora was going. But he had agreed, so there was no point regretting it now. "Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up after school?" 

"No, I can take the bus. Besides, I might get invited to some girl... to somebody's place. You know, to help me get caught up with the schoolwork. But I'll call if I'm going to be late." 

And with that the Rostalian invasion force quietly entered the unsuspecting Earthlings' halls of learning. 

___****___ 

Makoto had never seen Kauru in such a state. Her clenched fists quivered at her side. She took rapid, deep breaths through her open mouth. Her long straggly cyan hair and her white T-shirt clung to her, drenched half with sweat and half with water splashed up from the river. But it was her eyes that were the most alarming, wide and burning and staring down her opponent with defiance and rage. It did not look good for her. 

He heard Miz make a barely audible noise. He glanced at the former priestess standing beside him at the river bank. She was watching her successor intently, with a look that showed both worry and disapproval. She shook her head. "Control, control..." It was hardly even a whisper, she was just mouthing the words. She tensed up, which prompted Makoto to look back to the young priestess standing precariously on the wet, slippery rock in the middle of the rushing mountain stream. Sure enough, Kauru was gathering her energy for another attack. 

Long, thin streams of water leapt up from the stream that flowed around Kauru's feet, curling around her fists and merging into whirlpools that spun madly in the air at her sides. The water in the stream started to churn madly and the two whirlpools grew into two little wildly gyrating typhoons. The little priestess was the eye of a storm now. Even from here, they could see her pale skin darken as the blood surged through her veins in response to the dangerous levels of energy being channeled through her slim body. 

With a rebel yell she launched the two watery missiles straight into the heart of the waterfall that cascaded down the cliff she was facing. 

The white curtain of water absorbed Kauru's attack as it had the previous ones. Shock waves rippled through the frothing water, the waterfall's straight edges now rapidly wavering this way and that like a big thick enraged snake. Makoto thought that would be the end of it, that the waterfall had won again. The silence came so abruptly it was like a plug being pulled. Makoto gasped, heard Miz do the same. Where the waterfall had been was a perfectly clear, smooth column of water hanging suspended in front of the cliff face. Makoto could see the rocks behind it like he was looking through a window. The water of the stream he stood beside was now flat and placid like a pool, held in place by Kauru's will. 

Ifurita took Makoto's hand. #She did it.# 

#Yes.# 

The magical moment lasted a few seconds longer. The return of the roaring waterfall was just as abrupt as the moment that had frozen it. The column broke into a million million droplets and the stream resumed its natural course, once again splashing playfully around the rock where Kauru stood panting and shaking. 

"Well done!" Miz shouted out, waving her hand enthusiastically. Her carefully maintained stoic calm was dashed apart just as effectively as the column of suspended water Kauru had finally succeeded in forming. Kauru turned to face them, and Makoto and Ifurita also waved at her. She looked utterly drained, but her smile was glowing with pride. 

After resting for a minute, Kauru stepped down to the surface of the water. A little whirlpool formed at her feet, holding her aloft and gently propelling her across the surface to the river bank. She stepped gingerly onto the rocky shore with her bare feet. Miz took both the girl's hands in her own. "Well done, Kauru," she said more gently, at this distance no longer needing to shout over the noise of the waterfall. "I knew you could do it." 

Kauru's face was still flushed, but now it was probably more the glow of pride than the aftereffects of her efforts. "I'm getting more in tune with this world's elements," she said in her high, clear voice, looking shyly up into her mentor's eyes. "I think it will be easier next time." 

"Afura and Shayla say the same thing," Ifurita said. "The longer they are in this world, the easier it is to call upon its elemental powers. At this rate it won't take you long to become as attuned to this world as you are to your native world." 

"Did it take you long to adapt?" Kauru asked the Demon God. 

Ifurita smiled. "I have been on this world for ten thousand years." 

"Oh right, I forgot." 

"Come," Miz said, patting the shorter girl's hand. "We should take a soak in the water to cool you off and settle you down." 

"I think we'll pass on that," Makoto said, guessing they wanted to strip down for their soak in the stream. "Jumping into a mountain stream seems too much like shock treatment for me." 

"You should try it sometime," Miz said. "It's a wonderful way of clearing the head." 

"Maybe next time. Anyway, we'll see you back at the house." 

"Thank you for allowing us to observe your exercises," Ifurita said. "It was a truly enchanting display." 

"Thank you, Ifurita-sama," Kauru said, bowing. Makoto could feel Ifurita's mild discomfort through their touch. Of all the Rostalians, the young priestess of water was the one who still seemed to be a bit intimidated by the Demon God. They were both working to overcome that, but it would take time. 

The couple took a leisurely pace down the rough wooded path. "I wonder if Afura and Shayla are done with their own morning exercises," Makoto said. 

"I believe so. I am detecting no disturbances." 

Adapting their powers to work in an alien world had been an interesting challenge for all of them. Afura in particular was pleased at this unique opportunity, she felt it would be good for all of them. "You didn't actually answer Kauru's question," Makoto commented. 

"I don't think the issue applies to me. I can use their techniques but I don't actually draw power from the elements. I draw it from myself or from the staff." 

"Are you ever tempted to try it out? Go out into a desert somewhere and cut loose?" 

Ifurita smiled. "If I feel the need to work off tension, perhaps I'll do that. Though if I wanted to 'cut loose' as you say the far side of the moon would be more appropriate." 

Ifurita was much more comfortable talking about her Demon God powers than she had been before her memories of her early life had surfaced. Makoto was pleased to see that she had come to terms with what she was. But it still hurt that she had been forced to seek help from somebody else. It was a failure he was determined not to repeat. "Hopefully nobody will ever annoy you that much." 

"The last person who annoyed me that much was Fatora." 

"Really?" 

He knew Ifurita would catch his drift. "You mean Alielle? No, she's quite different. She would never truly force herself upon anybody. I think that your concern for her behavior at the school is unfounded. If she did take a lover I'm sure she would treat the girl with genuine affection." 

Makoto really hoped it would be that simple. "Actually I was thinking more of Shayla." 

Ifurita raised a slim eyebrow, looking puzzled. "Shayla?" 

Makoto chuckled. "No, not like that. It just seems lately it's almost like she's trying to provoke you. Sometimes I'm afraid that she's pressing her luck." 

"Oh, that. Well, yes she can be very competitive. But she doesn't seek dominance the way that Jinnai does. She simply enjoys a challenge. I suppose I represent a challenge for her in many ways." 

"So you don't mind sparring with her?" 

"Quite the contrary. Both she and Afura have taught me much. Because of our power, Demon Gods tend to use brute force approaches. But when I powered down my implants to human level I found I was no match for them in unarmed combat." 

"From what I've seen that didn't last long." 

Ifurita smiled. "I am designed to be a quick study." 

"So do you enjoy your time with them?" 

"Yes. Yes, I do." She stopped walking and faced him. "Why do you ask, all of a sudden?" 

Makoto wasn't quite sure how to put this. "I guess I'm trying to make sure I haven't stuck my head back in the sand." 

She took his hand. Her beautiful blue eyes bore down on his. They showed just a hint of sadness. "Makoto, I wish so much you could stop blaming yourself for what happened." 

She had entreated him thus many times since that near-disastrous powerup had almost driven her over the edge. But Makoto was all too aware of the facts. She had hidden her condition from him because she didn't want to shatter the little fantasy world he'd settled into. She'd had to go to Nanami, and then to a stranger, for help. They had just barely been able to bring her back... no thanks to him. "I'll only be able to forgive myself for my blindness once I've made it up to you. To do that I have to start thinking about you." 

"But you are always thinking of me, Makoto. I could never doubt that." 

He shook his head. "No, I've been thinking of *us*. I haven't been considering the needs you have beyond our relationship. And I don't just mean your physical well-being." 

"What do you mean?" She spoke softly, but he recognized the look of eager inquisitiveness with which she approached any question. 

"I've had my whole life to make friends. I know I've given you those memories. You've told me you have made them your own and I couldn't be happier to know that. But the fact remains, you've never been shown friendship before. The people who followed us back here from El Hazard - both the Rostalians and my fellow Earthlings - they're the first friends you've ever had. I've never stopped to think what that might mean to you." 

"You're thinking of it now." 

Makoto's lips curled in a wry smile. "Better late than never, I suppose." 

Ifurita stepped closer, he took both her hands in his own in response. "You're right. They were the first people to treat me as more than a machine, much less show me friendship. And your friends and family here on Earth have shown me every kindness. It does mean a great deal to me. I've tried to show them that, I only hope I've succeeded." 

"I'd like to show them too. How grateful I am to them, that is. I've been thinking, we should try to do more things together. With our friends here, and then with our friends from Rostalia whenever they come visit." 

"What did you have in mind?" 

"A trip to the beach. A night at a karaoke bar. Whatever. The priestesses are going to have to get tired of tossing things around with elemental powers of nature sometime, we'll suggest they take a break." 

"That sounds wonderful." A slight frown of uneasiness creased her brow. "But I have never sung before, I don't know how good I would be." 

"Trust me, it really doesn't matter." 

___****___ 

Nanami looked out over the crowd filing out of the concert hall into the sumptuous foyer. "Woo, now I really do feel underdressed." 

Alielle squeezed her arm tighter. "What are you talking about? You look yummy." 

"Thanks. I guess. Well, it did say formal. I've never seen so many tuxedos." It was a very exclusive performance of the top Kabuki troupe in the country. Nanami didn't even want to think about how much it cost Makoto to get tickets for all of them. 

"Are those the kimono you were talking about?" Alielle asked, pointing discreetly at two women standing and talking nearby. 

"Yeah. Boy, those ones are really gorgeous." Probably cost more than some of the cars parked outside too. 

"They sure are. I think I like the other sort of dresses better though. They're called evening gowns, right?" 

"Uh-huh." Of course she would prefer evening gowns to kimono. The more flesh showing the better. Which was undoubtedly what Alielle found 'yummy' about her look. "So how did you like the first performance?" 

"It was really beautiful. We have something like that in the mountain village I come from. But the stories in ours are a lot more lewd. And the audience really gets worked up." 

"Kabuki used to be like that, before it got turned into performance art." She took another look around. "I wonder where everyone disappeared to anyway. I bet Shayla dragged them all to the bar." 

"Yeah, she's such a lush. I'm glad you're my date tonight." 

"I am not your date." 

Alielle chose to be oblivious to her comment. "Let's go look for them." 

"You go ahead, I need to find the ladies' room." 

Nanami wove her way carefully between the clusters of elegantly dressed men and women. This really wasn't her sort of thing. But Alielle was right, the performance was remarkable. And it was sort of fun to dress up once in a while too. This had made a good excuse for all the girls to go out shopping for new dresses together. It was interesting that Ifurita had thrown herself into the shopping trip no less enthusiastically than any of them. Of course it was easy for her, she'd look gorgeous in a burlap sack. 

Nanami stopped short when she came upon a sign saying the area beyond was reserved. Probably a special section for VIPs. This really was a high-profile event, there would be many government bureaucrats and captains of industry out to impress their bosses and counterparts and customers. Obviously I got turned around somewhere along the way, Nanami thought. But that's modern architecture for you, leaves you feeling like a rat in a maze. She looked for another way out of there and locked eyes with a blue-skinned boy. 

Her heart stopped. When it beat again he was gone. She'd seen him just long enough to think that she couldn't have imagined it, long enough to think she recognized the face. She'd thought he was so cute the first time she'd seen him... but not so cute when he had been holding a knife to her throat. 

Nanami found herself walking inexorably past the sign and to the corner around which the apparition had disappeared. Her pulse was pounding in her head, her mind locked in a paralyzing grip of terror and confusion. She wanted so much to run but she wanted so much more for it not to be true. The answer lay around this corner, she had to see for herself. 

She emerged from around the corner and looked onto yet another carpeted balcony filled with yet more elegantly dressed men and women sipping drinks and chatting amicably. It took just a second for her to take in the scene, just a second for mortal dread to paralyze her body as it had her mind. They stood out like beacons among the press of pale faces. A light scattering of blue, like an outbreak of pox. 

She began to shake. They don't know. My God, they don't even suspect. It's just like Galus... 

"Can I help you, young lady?" 

The attendant standing dutifully at the entrance to the roped off area was regarding her with barely concealed suspicion. But he was not blue. Not one of them, thank all the Kami. "Uh, n-no," she managed to say in a weak voice. "Sorry..." she turned and started to walk back the way she came. She forced herself to think. Don't run. Don't look back. Don't call out to your friends. Just find them. Find them. 

The crowd she walked into looked just like the one she had left behind. She tried to look everywhere at once. There was no further sign of them, but she never stopped looking for a second. She felt eyes on her the whole time. She was suddenly walking through an alien world again. It was hell, she just wanted to scream, to call out to her friends and warn them. Surely the intermission must have been over hours ago, it couldn't have been just a few minutes since her world had fallen apart. 

"Hey, Nanami." She gasped, spun around. 

The redhead took a reflexive step back, sloshing her drink. "Whoa, what's with you?" 

Nanami let out a shuddering breath. "Oh God, Shayla..." she moaned. 

They were all there, Alielle had caught up with Makoto, Ifurita and the three priestesses. She could see on all their faces the emerging realization that something was wrong. But it was the Demon God who reacted most quickly. She immediately walked up to Nanami and put a hand on her shoulder. "Nanami, is something wrong?" 

It was impossible to keep the tremor out of her voice. "I need to talk to all of you in private right now." 

Ifurita glanced at Makoto, who by now looked just as worried as she did. They nodded in unison. For just a moment Ifurita assumed the poker face with which she faced everything from tennis to mortal combat. She was consulting the inner voices she had told them about, her internal tacticians. "Follow me," she said in a flat tone, and headed off at a brisk pace without bothering to ask leave. Nanami followed right behind her, infinitely relieved by the cyborg warrior's presence and by Makoto's hand resting lightly on her back as he followed. The three priestesses took up the rear. Nanami heard Kauru whisper some question to Afura. She couldn't make out the elder priestess' curt reply, but whatever it was silenced the young priestess of water. 

Nanami was relieved to find that Ifurita had picked a secluded spot on the ground floor hidden by an overhead staircase and a line of potted plants. She had obviously taken Nanami's request for privacy seriously. They were all gathered around her now. "Nanami, what's this all about?" Makoto asked. 

By now she had managed to calm herself enough to speak with an even tone. "Up in the VIP section I spotted Nahato, that Phantom Tribe boy. He's older now but I'm sure it was him." 

"What?" Shayla hissed. "Are you serious?" 

Nanami plowed on, ignoring her. "He wasn't the only one, there were others. Five or six at least. It's just like on El Hazard, I'm the only one who can see them." 

"How could they possibly be here?" Afura asked in open disbelief. 

"How the hell should I know?" Nanami snapped, barely managing to keep from shouting. "They're here, I saw them, that's all I know." 

"Were they alerted to your presence?" Ifurita asked in the same flat tone. It was almost like seeing the return of the Demon God who had done the bidding of the key master. But not quite. The cold calculation was there, but not the malevolence. It was hard to believe this was the same woman who had giggled and blushed as she modeled slinky evening gowns for her friends. 

"When I spotted Nahato he made eye contact with me. I'm sure he was making himself invisible like he did before. Even if he didn't recognize me he would know I saw through his spell." 

"He must have made the connection with your previous encounter," Ifurita said. "By now he has alerted the others to our presence. We should leave before they have a chance to take action." 

"What are you talking about?" Shayla said. She fed the rest of her drink to a potted plant and set the glass down on the wide pot ledge - a sure indication she was in tune with the seriousness of the situation. "We've got to find them before they run. If they're still there, Nanami points them out to us and we take care of the rest." She smacked a fist into an open palm. 

"Will you get a grip!" Nanami hissed. She put her hand to her face as she took a deep breath, in and out. It wasn't Shayla's fault, she just hadn't explained properly. "Look, they're not hiding or anything they were up there sipping cocktails with the rest. Some of them might be cabinet ministers or something for all I know." The cold dread threatened to overwhelm her again as she listened to what she was saying. "We can't just barge in there and start hunting them down." 

"She is correct," Ifurita said. "Nobody here has heard of the Phantom Tribe, they would never believe us." 

"Their illusion spells fade if they're seriously hurt," Shayla protested. "We've seen that. We go there, break a few limbs, the results will speak for themselves." 

"We don't know that for certain," Afura cut in. "Besides, if we go into combat now we're at a disadvantage. We don't have our lamps and Ifurita doesn't have her staff, we'd be fighting at reduced strength." 

"Could we stop arguing and get the hell out of here?" Nanami's voice was starting to become shrill but she didn't care, she was going mad listening to this. 

"I agree, it's too dangerous to confront them here," Makoto said. He also looked very anxious to leave. "Let's go straight out the door now and catch a limo out of here." He looked sternly at Shayla. She did not look at all happy, but after a second gave a curt nod of assent. 

Makoto led the way out. Ifurita lay a gentle hand on Nanami's shoulder as they walked. "Keep an eye out for them," she said softly. "But don't give any warning unless one approaches us or makes a hostile move." 

"Right," Nanami muttered. Alielle, who had been quiet throughout the sudden crisis, now had a death grip on her arm. She hardly noticed. It seemed to take them forever to cross the expansive front foyer of the concert hall. Every shadow and corner held the promise of blue-skinned assassins. After a horrible eternity they reached the wide bank of glass doors that fronted the building. Upon Makoto's request, the attendant outside the door signaled for one of the white stretch limos to approach. Nanami finally realized why they didn't simply leave as they had arrived, in two taxis - Makoto wanted everybody in one car where he could see them, watch over them. She was glad somebody was thinking more clearly than she was. She seriously wanted to curl up and cry. This just couldn't be happening, not here. 

They piled into the car and Makoto gave the driver an address Nanami didn't recognize. The power window behind the driver's compartment came up and closed them in a blessed armor of upholstery and tinted glass. She had taken a good look at the driver on the way in. Not blue. 

They had privacy now, but nobody spoke for a while. Makoto stripped the black tie off his tuxedo and sighed deeply. His face was glistened with sweat. He had been hiding it well, but it looked like he had been just as spooked as she had. Of course it would hit the two of them harder than the Rostalians. This was their home, stuff like this just was not supposed to happen. 

"Makoto-sama," Kauru said in a tiny voice, as if reluctant to break the silence. "Aren't we going back to the Imperial Hotel?" That was where they had planned to stay the night in Tokyo before heading back home. 

"No. We're going to a safe house." 

"Safe house?" Nanami asked. The others also looked confused. They probably weren't sure what the term meant. 

"I should explain," Ifurita said. She sat rigidly holding Makoto's hand, her eyes spending most of their time looking over Nanami's shoulder through the rear window. Watching if they were being followed, she guessed. "It is actually an apartment. Makoto rents it under the name of a third party. It is intended as a hiding place in case we need one. A bolt hole, if you will. At the time we thought of the idea we were envisioning threats from authorities, criminals or simply the press." 

"I think we should stay there for now," Makoto said. "It will be a bit cramped, but nobody should be able to associate the place with my name. We'll be safe there." 

"Safe?" Nanami said incredulously. "Nobody is safe. These people could be anywhere, everywhere! There could be thousands of them. And now they know we're onto them." 

"Nanami," Afura said sternly. "I really don't think there could be that many of them. Think about it. You have probably come in sight of thousands of people since coming back to Earth. If they were ubiquitous you would have spotted one long ago. On El Hazard their typical strategy was to insert a few of their top illusionists in the highest positions of authority. Much like Galus in Rostalia. I would guess they've done the same thing here. This was simply the first time you've come into contact with such high level officials." 

"Oh God." Nanami buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe this is happening." 

"I can't believe it either," Shayla said. "How the hell did they get here? Have they figured out how to travel down those wormholes?" 

"That's possible," Afura said. "They've always proven adept at using other people's technology. They could have found some more relics from before the Holy Wars, figured out how to use them." 

Makoto wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief. "This is crazy, how do they just replace people with dopplegangers like that? Where are the people whose doubles have replaced them?" 

"Dead, probably," Afura said. "We've never been sure how they do that. We suspect that they shadow their intended victims invisibly for extended periods, learning their habits and such. Then one night the person disappears and the Phantom Tribe takes his place. I've always thought they have some mind reading abilities, that's the only way I could see them being able to mimic their victims so effectively. Be that as it may, whenever we have found out such a switch it has usually turned out that their spouse or most intimate friend has suddenly died. The arranged tragedy probably serves two purposes, as an excuse for any perceived change in the victim's behavior and to remove the one most likely to notice the change. If we look in records of the recent past we will probably find that many high level officials have abruptly been widowed." 

Something was roiling about in the back of Nanami's mind, some new potential disaster that she just couldn't articulate. "They must have been here for a long time," she said hesitantly. 

Afura nodded. "It would have to be a year or more at least, I would think." 

Then it hit her. She felt sick. "My God, they must know about us! I mean that we're back on Earth. It was in all the papers! They would know who we really are!" She shivered. "They've probably been watching us..." 

"That is undoubtedly true," Ifurita said. It sounded as if she had figured that out a long time ago. "They would also know where we live. Now that they know we are aware of their presence, they may take any opportunity to attack. For now, we will have to stay in the safe house." 

"The Fujisawas." Kauru's frightened voice was followed by stunned silence. 

Makoto slapped his forehead and rasped as he did when berating himself as a fool. He checked his watch. "They must have left the cabin by now, they'll be back at the house any time." They had been spending some time in Fujisawa Sensei's favorite mountain cabin, which was why they were not at the concert tonight. 

"I should go fetch them," Ifurita said. "They could be in danger, so time is of the essence. As soon as we are safely at the apartment I will fly there." 

"Do you have enough power to fly all that way without the staff?" Makoto asked. 

"Yes. At any rate I should go retrieve my staff from the vault." 

"Somebody will have to go to the hotel for our things," Makoto said. That was where the priestess' lamps were. In retrospect it had been folly to leave them there. They really had been caught with their pants down. "Hell, that's where we should have gone first. I wasn't thinking." 

"Makoto," Afura said. "If as Nanami said some of the Phantom Tribe hold positions of power could they not have given orders for the local constabulary to find us and take us prisoner?" 

He was really looking spooked now. When she wasn't watching the windows Ifurita was sending furtive, worried glances his way, as if she could sense his distress. "It would depend exactly who they are," he said hesitantly. 

Something new occurred to Nanami. "I don't get it, wouldn't I have seen one of them on TV or something? And when I got back here I was looking through two years of news magazines." 

"We have to presume their spells can confound electronic devices," Ifurita said. She glanced at Nanami. "I suspect you can only see through them when you are in their proximity." 

For a variety of reasons that wasn't what Nanami wanted to hear. But it made too much sense. "Oh Lord, they really could be anyone." 

"I think Afura's got a good point," Makoto said. "We should stay in hiding for now. Once we've taken our stuff from the hotel we should stay at the safe house until we find out more." 

"And just how are we supposed to find out more?" Shayla asked. Nanami looked away just a millisecond after Shayla's eyes settled on hers. She was the only one who could see these people. Right now, that wasn't something she wanted to think about. 

___****___ 

The tiny cellular phone in the breast pocket of his tuxedo chirped softly. He muttered an apology to the people he was chatting with, turned and walked to a more secluded part of the room as he flipped open the slim black telephone. "It's me." Anyone who had this number would know who he is. 

"Please forgive the interruption, Galus-sama," the familiar voice said. 

"What is it, Nahato?" The boy was here in the building with him, he would not have called him like this unless it were something requiring his immediate attention. These little devices were such a convenient way of publicly speaking with somebody who was supposed to be invisible, who officially did not even exist. 

"We have a problem, Galus-sama. The woman who can see through our illusions, she was here. She spotted me." 

"I see." 

"I'm very sorry Galus-sama, I was careless. I have no excuse." 

"What is happening now?" He didn't even ask the boy whether he had her under surveillance, that was a given. 

"She has run away. She is likely here with some of the others and is trying to find them." He hesitated, something Galus saw him do when reporting something shameful. "Galus-sama, we made eye contact. My failure is complete." 

So she knows we are warned, that was what the boy was telling him. "I am going to the car." 

"Shall we take action?" 

Shall we kill her? He considered for just a moment. "No. Stay in the building, take no action unless the situation warrants it." Not here. Observe, but do not pursue and do not attack unless attacked. 

"I understand. If that is all..." 

"It is. Report their actions to me." Galus snapped the phone shut and pocketed it. He gave no outward indication of how irritated he was. This was annoying. Not disastrous, but very annoying. He turned to the field operative who was hovering at his side. She had of course noticed him receiving a call and was standing by for instructions. 

"I will not be returning," he said in a low voice. "Make my excuses. And take care of matters here." That was a signal to be on her guard. It was the least he could do. Even if the Demon God herself was here he doubted they would attack openly, not here. But if they did, the ones left behind would be covering his escape. His operative acknowledged the order and he made his way to the VIP elevator. It took him directly to the underground parking lot. His sportster was in a reserved stall near the entrance. He could have brought one of his people as a driver, but in truth he loved driving these marvelous machines. Galus was somebody who liked to feel he was in control. 

The car phone did not ring until he was on the highway headed back to their home base. He picked up the receiver on the first ring. "It's me." 

"Galus-sama, if you please I have a report," came Nahato's flat voice. So, his people there were still alive. Nothing had happened. 

"Go ahead." 

"Nanami and her friends have left the concert hall. There was no incident." 

"Who was with her?" 

"The Demon God, Mizuhara, the three Great Priestesses and the Princess' whore." 

"No sign of Fujisawa or the old lady?" 

"No, Galus-sama." 

Interesting. "Do we know where they are?" 

"I have already obtained a report from our spies at the house. They were last spotted leaving for their mountain retreat. On the basis of past behavior, they will likely be returning to the house very soon." 

Now that was very interesting indeed. He considered the risk of what he was thinking. The timing would be tricky. If it went wrong he could lose good people. But until this incident everything had been going well, they were ahead of schedule. It would be a shame to lose it all now. He would certainly like to have a little insurance. "Have our spies at the house call me here. I have special instructions for them." 

"Understood." 

The call came less than a minute later. Galus gave his instructions. When he hung up he smiled to himself. Even if this did not buy him the prize he was after, he had other surprises for the Earthlings and their Rostalian allies. One surprise in particular they would find very unpleasant indeed. 

___****___ 

"Look, Ai-chan," Miz said softly, leaning over the crib and handing the little stuffed doll to her daughter. "It's Hello Kitty, your favorite little friend. She's so glad to see you again. Isn't that nice?" 

The baby cooed and gurgled happily. It wasn't long before she was settled down, absorbed in playing with her toys again. Miz quietly backed away and walked over to the kitchen. She let out a tired little sigh. "Dear me." 

Her husband came in from the garage laden down with an astonishing amount of gear. Before he could say anything she put a finger to her lips. He walked closer to her. "Asleep?" he asked softly. 

"No. But settled down." Ai had slept for most of the drive home. Which had left her an excited bundle energy when they did arrive. 

"You wheeled the crib out here?" 

"I want to watch over her while we get dinner ready." 

"Anything you need done?" 

"They forgot to put any rice through the cleaner. Again." 

"Those rice bags are heavy, let me do it. Speaking of heavy, what on Earth have you got in here?" 

Miz made a face. "Well, if you hadn't taken a drink after our walk it wouldn't feel heavy now would it?" 

He chuckled. "Well, that's the proper way to end off a hike." 

"Anyway, I thought you weren't supposed to drink before driving those motor vehicle things." 

"Not to worry, I know my limits." 

She sighed. "You're hopeless." 

"I'll just drop this stuff off in our room. Do I have time to get cleaned up before I come help?" 

"I guess you'd better take the time." 

He winked. "Back in a flash." He trudged off down the hall with his burden. 

She was going to tell him to at least take a shave, but that could wait until after he had done the rice. She shook her head in wonder. However had he lived before she came along to straighten him out? If things were left up to men they would all still be shivering in caves and gnawing flesh off of bones like those ape-men in the Earth book Afura had shown her. She could certainly believe that men used to be monkeys, they were just as difficult to train. 

"Is that heater really on?" she muttered under her breath. She walked over and put her hand over the electric space heater. Rising warm air caressed her open hand. It would take a while to get the room nice and toasty the way she liked it. In the meantime she warmed her hands for a moment. No wonder this country was so full of machines, how else could they cope with this climate? They kept telling her the summers were warmer, but from what she heard it rained constantly. Her husband's world certainly had its own beauty and wonder, but she always looked forward to returning to her homeland. 

The heater was quickly warming her up. She was about ready to take off her sweater when a chill ran through her, as if her body were remembering the brisk wind she had endured as her husband led her across the rough paths, their well bundled little girl strapped to his back. Inexplicably she felt queasy and jumpy. Hopefully she wasn't coming down with something. The room rippled behind the column of warm air rising off the heater. 

Miz blinked. Not warm air. Something else. 

All of a sudden her hackles were up. She knew with utter certainty that something had entered the room. Her eyes immediately darted over to where her daughter was playing quietly in her crib. She willed her mind and body to relax, she became as water once again, water free of form and constraint. She saw with eyes that could look beyond the rippling surface of the water and see the depths beneath as if through plate glass, she saw... 

She saw him. The blue-skinned devil was creeping up on her little girl. Driven by the most primal instinct of woman and guided by the way of the water she exploded into motion. She coiled and sprang. In the same fluid motion her hand flew to the rack over the counter beside her, came back with a knife that could glide through living flesh as easily as dead. She was water, a raging river breaking its banks and sweeping away all before it. Her shrill cry was both a spontaneous outburst of rage and hate and a coldly calculated move, to freeze her target for the one moment she would need to reach it, and to bring her child's father to her side. The other devil appeared before her like a shark breaking the surface. She was water, flowing around the knife-stroke and sliding her own blade across the devil's throat. She crashed across the obstacle in her path, leaving it behind like rapids leave behind a battered rock in their midst, none of her momentum lost. The first devil stood before her clear as day now, no longer a shimmering mirage on the edge of vision. He locked eyes with her. She saw below the surface, it told her everything. He was no longer depending on his illusion to protect him as the other had. He was prepared to match his blade with hers. And his was well suited for this work, hers was not. She stopped dead just outside his reach, feinted and sprang back. He could not be invisible while he faced her like this, her husband would see what was happening and they could take him from both sides. 

His eyes shifted for just an instant. She was on the verge of spinning around with a wild stroke when she felt the pinprick at her back. An instant later the agony came blasting up her spine as the knife was twisted and withdrawn. Her body was truly water now, but no longer moved under her will. Her legs turned to liquid and collapsed from under her. Every ounce of will went into just holding onto consciousness, bearing it up against the raging torrent of pain that wanted to push her over into oblivion. She pushed back against it and her other senses were given back to her. She was on the floor. The third devil had joined his fellow. The first one had something in his arms, oh God he had... 

"Ai-chan!" The strangled scream was not even done when they vanished. She had lost the water dance, had lost her deep sight. She could no longer see the things that had taken her life from her. 

"Miz!" His voice seemed so far away. The running footsteps took so long to reach her. Finally, finally he was there, holding her. His face came into focus. His gaze shot wildly back and forth between her and something out of her sight. "What... what did he do to you?" 

She turned her head slightly and saw it. The second devil, the dead one in an expanding pool of dark blood. Her husband took one of his hands from her and looked in horror at the blood dripping from it. "Oh no... Miz... Miz, just lie still okay, I'll call for a doctor." 

No don't tell him don't send him after them he can't even see them they'll kill him don't don't "Ai-chan. They took Ai-chan. Please..." She didn't think it would have been possible for his face to register yet more overwhelming horror, but it was. He was utterly paralyzed. He looked around helplessly. "Which way... which way..." 

"I don't know," Miz whimpered. She had seen Ai crying just before she had disappeared, but had not heard. The devils could mask sound as well as sight. He would never find them. Only one had any hope of finding them. It would be far too late but she was beyond caring. "Get... Nanami." 

There was a change in his face. All the horror was there, but the panic was replaced by some level of resolve. "I will. You just lie here, I'll bring help." He laid her down gingerly and ran over to the phone. Everything in the room seemed to be pulling further away, like she was getting smaller, collapsing. As if from a great distance she heard her husband frantically shouting at somebody to send something called an ambulance. Why was he not calling Makoto? Because he was trying to save her life. She had been preparing herself for the end. But the doctors on this world could work miracles. She could live, live to find her daughter, to save her, to see her again. All she had to do was hang on a little longer. But it hurt so much. It would be so much easier to just slip away quietly, but she would not. She absolutely would not. 

Something changed. She was in somebody's arms. Had help arrived already? With an effort she focused her eyes. A pale face framed in waving platinum hair looked at her with piercing blue eyes. "I will take you to where you can be helped," her distant voice said. 

Miz had a vague sense of flying through the air before the oblivion finally took her. 

___****___ 

"It's just over there," Nanami said, pointing down to the hospital far below. 

"I see it," Afura said. They began their descent. Nanami shivered, held on tightly to the priestess of the wind. At the hotel they had taken the extra couple of minutes it took to change into warmer clothes, but Nanami still shivered at the cold night air that whipped her short copper hair around her face. With only one passenger to carry, Afura could maintain a very respectable speed. When Ifurita's call had come, they had quickly agreed that getting Nanami's eyes there was the first priority. 

Not necessarily to protect Miz' life. Until Nanami was there, Ifurita was fully prepared to vaporize anyone or anything that looked even vaguely suspicious. That was what they were really speeding to prevent. 

Nanami could make out more details as they swept down onto the hospital. It was a wonder they hadn't become lost in the darkness. But they just followed the highway and flew low enough to read the signs. "The emergency entrance is over there," Nanami said, pointing again. 

"Should we really just drop right there?" Afura asked. 

"They've already had one girl drop out of the sky today." 

Afura's only reply was to angle down to where Nanami had indicated. They came to rest just outside the door. The only people in the immediate vicinity were what she assumed were two paramedics standing and talking beside an ambulance. One of them suddenly said something in an alarmed voice, she didn't quite catch what. More visitors dropping in from the sky. She ignored them, walked straight in the door, Afura close on her heels. The first person she flagged down pointed them in the right direction. Nanami walked briskly down the indicated hallway. The brightness of the hospital was almost painful after their mad flight through the night sky. She rounded a corner and spotted him. "Fujisawa Sensei!" 

He lifted his head out of his hands and gazed up at Nanami. She stopped dead as if she had been slapped. He looked twenty years older. His eyes were vacant, hollow. For one horrible instant she was convinced the Phantom Tribe had done something to him. But in fact they had. They had ripped his life away from him. Her eyes blurred with tears and her throat constricted. "Oh Sensei," she whimpered. 

"Nanami." His voice had no more life than his face. 

She walked over and sat beside him. She spared a glance for the one other person who was waiting outside the operating room. Ifurita acknowledged her with no more than a nod. She seemed utterly out of place here, dressed in the formal evening gown she had not had a chance to change out of. Nanami wondered that the breeze of her passage through the sky had not blown it off altogether. She stood like a sentinel before the door, arms crossed below her barely concealed bosom. Nanami turned back to her sensei. "Ifurita told us what happened," she said softly. 

He just nodded, still hunched over and staring at the floor. Nanami felt helpless. What could she possibly say? That it was going to be okay? His daughter was in the hands of alien killers and his wife was in there fighting for her life. Both of them were in limbo, their fates hanging in the balance, and there was nothing they could do for either of them. What was she supposed to say? 

"Nanami." She looked up to see Afura standing over her. The priestess inclined her head to the side. Nanami looked in that direction to see two people approaching. A man in a suit and a uniformed policewoman. She immediately understood what Afura wanted of her. They locked eyes again and Nanami shook her head. *No.* Nanami looked over towards Ifurita. The Demon God had seen the exchange, it looked like she understood its meaning. Nanami would swear she could sense her powering down. 

Nanami recognized the man now. His was one of the faces she had seen across the table of a police interrogation room, back when they had first returned to Earth. "Good Evening," he said gravely. 

"Good Evening, Chief Inspector," Nanami said. 

He had the attention of everyone now. "Please forgive this intrusion, I know this is a very difficult time." 

"How can we help you, Chief Inspector," Fujisawa said woodenly. In his voice was no expectation at all that he would ever be of any help to anybody. 

"I simply wish to inform you that I have received a verbal report from the crime scene. I am afraid there is no sign of your daughter, Fujisawa-san. At this time we are treating this as a kidnapping. We are of course setting up roadblocks and checking vehicles leaving the area. I have to warn you though, I feel there will be little we can do until we receive a ransom note. In a typical case, the kidnappers contact the family very quickly. We have officers stationed at the house, if there is any communication we will of course inform you immediately. We have as yet been unable to identify the young man whose body we removed from the house." 

"You will not be able to identify him." Ifurita had come a little closer to the group, but was still hovering near the door to the operating room. "As I explained to the officer, he is not of this world. I would have thought that would be obvious even from a casual inspection. An... autopsy, I believe you call it... that will certainly prove the matter." 

The Chief Inspector cleared his throat nervously. "Yes. Well. This is obviously not the time, but at some point we will want more detailed statements from you and from Fujisawa-san. I would ask that you ensure you are available." 

"They'll be staying with me," Nanami said quickly. "If you want to contact us, leave a message on the house voice mail. We'll be checking it. And yes, if we get a message from them we'll leave it in the mail system and tell you, so that you can hear it." Makoto had already set up the phones so that calls to the house would be transferred to the safe house. 

"I see. Then I'll take no more of your time. Fujisawa-san, we wish your wife a speedy recovery." 

The two police officers took their leave. "Damn, I don't like this," Nanami muttered. 

"What do you mean?" Ifurita asked. "Was there something suspicious about him?" 

"No. I remember him from those interviews. He's just doing his job, that's all. But for all we know his boss or his boss' boss is Phantom Tribe. Even if he's trying to help, we have to watch what we say to him." 

"I concur," Ifurita said. "You told him nothing of the safe house. That was good thinking, Nanami." 

"Just paranoia. Right now I've got more than enough of that." 

"I wonder how he could help us anyway," Afura said. "It looks like he still doesn't believe where we really come from. How can we make him believe in an enemy who can confound his very senses?" 

"That may change," Nanami said. "They've got that body now. And there are going to be stories of how we flew in here." 

"I'm afraid I was observed as well," Ifurita said. "I felt that speed was of the essence." 

Nanami thought better of asking about Miz' condition. Ifurita was always thorough, she no doubt relayed all she knew when she called. Nanami's mind went back to that horrible moment when Makoto passed the news to the rest of them. Shayla had nearly gone into a blind rage, Makoto was still trying to calm her down when Afura and Nanami had departed for the hotel. By now they were all on their way to the hospital. "Thank goodness you did decide to fly out here." 

"I only wish I had been there sooner. I could have prevented this," Ifurita said bitterly. 

Nanami didn't like the way she sounded. The Demon God seemed almost as remorseful as Fujisawa. Nanami hated it, she wanted to deflect their attention elsewhere. "Ifurita, do you feel okay? I mean, after doing all that work." 

"I'm fine. But when the others arrive I'll want to go back to the house and retrieve my staff." She glanced down. "And to change." 

So until then there was nothing to do but wait. Nanami sighed. She sat down beside Fujisawa and put a hand on his arm. "Sensei, can I get you anything? A coffee maybe?" 

He looked up at her. She was astonished to see a wry little smile on his lips. "The usual rate?" 

She astonished herself even more by returning his smile. "No, this time it's on me." 

The others eventually arrived. They had no more idea what to say than Nanami did. It wasn't much later that the doctor came out to deliver the verdict. Critical but stable. Cautiously optimistic. Won't know more until later tomorrow. Go home. Get some sleep. 

Yeah, right. 

___****___ 

Shayla Shayla had never been good at waiting. All good things come to those who dive in feet first, that was her motto. Which was why she still thought they should have just gone up there and cleared out those filthy blue-skinned bastards when they had the chance. Sure it may or may not have changed what happened to the Fujisawas. But it would have been a few less Phantom Tribe snakes to deal with later, that was good enough for her. They would have to wipe them all out eventually, you had to start somewhere. 

"Shayla, you're going to wear out the carpet." 

"Shut up." She didn't even look at Afura. The black-haired priestess of the wind had been the second one to wake up this morning, and had sat there watching Shayla pacing. "I'm thinking." 

"About what?" 

"Everything." 

"Ah, contemplating the mysteries of the universe. Good, an excellent way to calm the heart and clear the mind." 

Shayla had managed to get just a couple of hours of sleep last night. On top of everything else she really wasn't in the mood for Afura's sniping. "I'd still prefer if we were with Miz." 

"Don't be silly. Ifurita was the logical one to leave behind. We need sleep, she doesn't. Think of poor Nanami. She has to practically live in that hospital, being Ifurita's eyes and ears." 

"That's what I've been thinking about." 

"Oh?" Afura sounded genuinely curious now, abandoning her glib tone. 

"Miz put down one of those bastards before they back stabbed her. That means she saw him." 

"Yes, that occurred to me too." 

"You remember the time that Galus got found out?" 

"Of course." 

Shayla stopped her pacing and faced her friend. "Just before he and his little trickster took off and their illusion disappeared, I could swear that for a second I saw through it. I could swear I saw them." 

"You think Miz did the same thing yesterday." 

"Yeah. I figure they weren't even looking for a fight. Just sneak in, grab their hostage and sneak out. But she caught them." 

"Which might mean we can do the same." 

Shayla nodded. "Miz passed her power on to Kauru, she was using nothing but her training. I figure with our lamps and with practice we could spot these bastards easy." 

"And how do you expect to get practice?" 

Shayla grinned. "Well, if we can capture one of these jokers we could hang him up somewhere and say make yourself invisible or we'll slice off your-" 

"Okay, I get the idea. If the opportunity arises, that's probably not a bad idea." Her face sobered. "Just remember, there was at least one that she didn't see on time." 

"Well, none of us has eyes at the back of our heads." 

Afura sighed. "Poor Nanami. This is such a burden for her, being our eyes. I hope you're right and we can stop depending just on her." 

"She's pretty tough, you know. I don't think you need to worry about her." 

Afura's brows came up in surprise. "You don't compliment people like that very often. Consider me impressed." 

Shayla grunted, crossed her arms. "Yeah, well. Anyway, what do you figure these bastards are after anyway?" 

"I haven't figured out anything more since the last time you asked. That was maybe ten minutes ago." 

They were interrupted by Makoto walking into the living room. Like them, he had just wrapped a yukata around himself. It looked like he had just gotten up. "Morning." 

"Good morning, Makoto," Afura said. "I'm sorry if we woke you." 

Makoto shook his head. "Just couldn't sleep anymore. No news?" 

Afura shook her head. "I made some tea, why don't you have some?" 

"Thanks." He poured himself a cup and went to sit down. 

"How's Fujisawa?" Shayla asked hesitantly. 

"Sleeping. Finally." His tone said the rest. Shayla looked away. She had known full well what he'd gone through, had known what to expect. Still, she had been shocked to see what her merry, carefree drinking buddy had been reduced to. They had hardly said a handful of words. Shayla had felt just as helpless as the rest. 

She clenched her hand into a tight fist. Somebody was going to pay very, very dearly for this. 

Makoto very soon became restless. After checking voice mail and email and even checking the weather outside he started flipping through news channels. It was almost like he was looking for something. Maybe looking for some sign of the enemy. Some sign of just how much of the world they were running now. Shayla didn't ask. 

Kauru and Alielle soon joined them. Of course they both asked the same questions about Miz and Fujisawa and got the same replies. No news. Sleeping. The two young girls looked almost as shell-shocked as Makoto. It was probably for slightly different reasons - to Kauru the Phantom Tribe was little but a legend, but Alielle knew them all too well. And Kauru practically worshipped the ground Miz tread. 

When the phone rang, Makoto picked it up on the first ring. Everyone's eyes were suddenly on him. "Hello... Nanami..." His brow furrowed, but it seemed more in confusion than worry. He just listened for what seemed a long time. "Okay. Anything else?... I see. I'll tell them. Thanks Nanami. Bye." He hung up and looked around the room. "There's no news about Miz. But Ifurita said she's heard from the Phantom Tribe." 

"What?" Shayla blurted out. "What do you mean heard from them?" 

"It was a signal sent to her directly. It just told her to go to a particular place and pick something up, nothing more. That's all Ifurita would say. She wants to go there, but doesn't want to leave Nanami and Miz on their own." He looked at Afura and Shayla now as he spoke. "She wants at least you two there before she leaves." 

"But it could be a trap," Kauru objected. 

"Yes, it could. That's why Ifurita wants to go alone, so she doesn't have any of us to protect." It was obvious he really wanted to find some objection to this plan. Apparently he could not. 

"Wait a second," Shayla said. "Are we really sure she should go alone? If she needs to fly there at least Afura and I can go with her." 

Makoto just shook his head. "She feels it's best she go alone." 

Shayla really didn't want to get mad at Makoto. She tried very hard not to. But she was probably doing a poor job of it. "That's not just her choice to make." 

"Shayla," Afura said, standing up. "We should hear more details from Ifurita before deciding anything. For now, let's just get dressed and go." She turned back to Makoto without awaiting a reply. "We'll contact you before making any move." 

"Thanks, Afura," Makoto said, sounding a little relieved. So he did want them to go with her. Fine, she would just make sure they did. 

They quickly got dressed and took off from the balcony. It occurred to Shayla that they were flying through the air in broad daylight, something Makoto absolutely forbade. Well, the Earthlings had a lot worse things to worry about than a priestess of the wind flying over their heads. Like all their leaders being slaughtered and replaced by dopplegangers. At any rate, Afura decided to be a little more discreet and land them on the roof of the hospital. A service entrance and a staircase took them to the floor where they needed to go. Nanami and Ifurita were right where they left them last night, at the entrance to the IC ward where Miz was recovering. The former looked somewhat the worse for wear. The latter still looked utterly out of place... but now for a rather different reason. 

Nanami walked over to greet them. "Hey," Shayla said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "How you holding out?" 

The bleary-eyed girl smiled weakly. "Okay. I managed to get a little sleep." 

"Good." 

"Ifurita, what's this about a signal you received?" Afura asked without preamble. 

The Demon God still gave the impression of a soldier on guard duty. The sturdy, casual clothes she chose looked a little more suited to the role than had the evening gown. But the great huge staff she held erect against the floor beside her was what really completed the picture. They all gathered close around her so that she could speak softly. "The signal came through one of my internal communicators. It was in a code used during the Holy Wars. The message was very brief, it simply said I would find something if I went to Fujisawa Sensei's mountain cabin. Now that you are here I can go." 

"Wait a sec-" Shayla was cut off by a sharp gesture from Afura. She fumed silently. She hated it when Afura did that. 

"What makes you think it was from the Phantom Tribe?" Shayla had to admit she hadn't even thought to question that. 

Ifurita raised a slim eyebrow. "It would have to be from somebody who has obtained and used communications technology from one of the ancient El Hazard civilizations. The Phantom Tribe have proven able to use the old Living Machines before. That is likely how they were able to travel here." 

"You know this could be just a trap." 

Ifurita just looked mildly annoyed, as if Afura were stating the obvious. "Of course. I will be approaching the place in combat ready mode. Unless they have obtained a nuclear warhead they are very unlikely to be able to harm me." 

Shayla shivered. She'd seen pictures of what happened to that southern city, Hiroshima, half a century ago. It looked worse than anything the Demon God ever did back before she met Makoto. "You don't think-" 

"No. If they were willing and able to take such drastic action they could have killed us all before we were aware of their presence." 

"So then what do you expect to find there?" Shayla asked. 

"I presume something telling us what they want in exchange for their hostage." 

"That's it?" Shayla asked incredulously. Afura gestured for her to keep her voice down. She did. "Why didn't they just send all that in the signal?" 

"The code they used was designed for coordinating the actions of Demon Gods and other weapons. It has a limited, specialized vocabulary, meant to order movements and weapons deployment." 

"Ifurita." Shayla tensed up. The others hadn't known Afura as long as she had. They probably wouldn't recognize the nuance in her voice, the warning that they were about to hear something they wouldn't like. "In all the technology of your time that you are familiar with, is there anything that would allow them to obtain control over you?" 

Ifurita's expression darkened. "No," she said in a voice cold as ice. "I am no longer a puppet." 

"I'm sorry, Ifurita. I had to ask." 

Ifurita's expression changed again just as swiftly, looking somehow wistful. "That is what Rune said." 

"Excuse me?" 

She shook her head. For a moment her eyes closed and she looked almost peaceful. "No matter." Whatever it was, it had obviously taken the edge off her anger. "Please watch over Miz in my place." 

That seemed to decide the matter. Somehow, Shayla couldn't find it in herself to argue. "Be careful, okay?" 

"I will." 

"You might want to leave by the roof," Afura suggested. "The less attention we attract, the better." 

"That was my intention. I will return as soon as possible." 

When Ifurita had left and Afura had come back from calling Makoto, Shayla realized why she had been so anxious to go along. She sighed and plopped herself down next to Nanami. "More damned waiting," she muttered. 

___****___ 

The nations of Ifurita's age had been armed camps in a perpetual state of mobilization. The Holy Wars had been but the climax of a bloody, pointless struggle that had waxed and waned over millennia. There had been no principles or ideology as Ifurita understood the terms. There had simply been those with power and those who sought it. The Demon Gods and the Eye of God were simply the most devastating of the dizzying array of weapons that age had produced. There was no telling what the Phantom Tribe had resurrected, no telling what she might be facing. Her comment to the priestesses had been less than truthful - right now nuclear weapons were the least of her concerns. The Voices made their recommendation. Ifurita considered their approach plan in her own mind, agreed it was the best course. But she hovered in place for just a moment longer. Her systems check came up clean, but something was wrong. Her biological systems were running at an accelerated pace even before entering the threat zone. It took but a moment for Ifurita to realize what was different from the many other times she had gone into combat. She had felt it more than once, after Makoto had freed her from the staff. But only now did she recognize it for what it was. 

She raised an eyebrow, her only outward show of emotion. So this is fear. How curious. She took a moment to consider the phenomenon. It looked like it would not affect her function. Quite the contrary, it would likely make her more alert to unexpected threats. 'Jumping at anything that moves' was one of the phrases she had heard to describe it. That was more or less how she felt now. Well and good. 

The Demon God accelerated to a barely subsonic speed in a matter of seconds. She angled down on the little cabin far below, dropping like a meteor, her passive sensors looking everywhere at once. Only when she was seconds away from her target did she throw open all her active sensors, effectively announcing her presence to any detection systems the Phantom Tribe may have set up. 

She crashed straight through the tiled roof of the little cabin and alighted on the floor in the middle of its single room. She turned about in place, her staff at the ready, scanning the room with her eyes and the surrounding area with all her senses. There was nothing. Nobody. 

She had been to this cabin before, knew what was supposed to be here. But even without that knowledge, the items she was supposed to notice were obvious. On the wood table were a piece of paper and what she recognized as a video tape. Never dropping her guard for a moment, Ifurita stepped closer. The paper held a single word, something only she would recognize. Her name, written in the script of the nation she served in the Holy Wars. 

Take the tape and go, the Voices said. Ifurita picked up the little tape and pocketed it. She did one more full sensor sweep before departing, standard procedure. Again, there was nothing. She frowned. There really was nothing. Just background noise. But even that was too even, too smooth. 

Something was masking its presence. Something nearby. The part of Ifurita's mind that was in control coolly noted that her biological systems were going into a yet more accelerated state. 

Ifurita considered her options. Stealth itself could be considered a hostile move. But if there was to be an attack it would have come by now. She had what she came for. And the enemy still had their hostage. She made her decision. Like a projectile being lobbed from a mortar, the Demon God rocketed straight up through the hole she had made in the roof, quickly accelerating to top speed. She engaged stealth mode upon reaching cruising altitude and sped back towards Tokyo. She chose a a very tortuous route, now flying at altitude, now flying nap of the earth, now disengaging flight mode altogether and running through woods or across rooftops as required. She could not explain the anxiety that drove her to such measures, could not articulate what exactly she was so anxious to flee from. It was a dread she dare not confront or articulate, not yet. 

___****___ 

"Thank you for allowing this, doctor," Makoto said quietly, bowing. 

"Not at all," the doctor responded, also keeping his voice down. "The nurses will be in to check up on her in another hour, please try to be done by then. And by no means touch anything." 

"Of course." 

The doctor left the room, closing the door behind him. Makoto turned around and walked back to where everybody was gathered around Miz' bed. She would not wake up for some time yet, but the doctor had given his consent for them to come see her. Makoto got his first good look at the unconscious woman. She really did not look bad, just a bit more pale than usual. But the machinery at her side gave cold, mechanical testament to how thin was the thread by which she hung on to life. They maintained a respectful silence for Fujisawa, who sat beside his wife, gently holding her unresponsive hand. He looked just a little better, which wasn't saying much. The news had been as good as they could expect. Barring further complications, she would fully recover, though not quickly. His other friends were holding their feelings in check with various degrees of success. Kauru was still sniffling and occasionally wiping a tear from red-rimmed eyes. Afura, her arms gently wrapped around the shorter priestess of water from behind, maintained a stoic calm. Shayla had settled to a permanent slow boil. In her glaring green eyes seemed to be dreams of all the lovely things she would do to the ones who had attacked her friend. Nanami and Alielle stood slightly apart, arm in arm. They just looked tired and miserable. Ifurita watched calmly from the foot of the bed. He was probably the only one who could tell she was upset - he didn't even need their link. He did not ask. As part of making up for his dismal failure, Makoto had sworn to share any of his worries and pain with her, to always come to her for help. She had sworn likewise. Now she knew she could trust him to listen, to understand. Whatever it was she would tell him, when the time was right. 

After just a short while, Fujisawa stood up and looked to Makoto. "Let's have a look at it, Makoto." He spoke as if not wanting to wake up Miz, even though they all knew it would be a long time before that was a concern. 

"Are you sure?" he answered softly. 

"Yes. I have to see it for myself." 

Makoto nodded. "I understand." He unslung the portable Hi-8 TVCR from his shoulder and went to set it on a table at the other end of the room. He switched it on and flipped up its little color screen. Fujisawa walked over and stood stiffly in front of it. The others made room for Afura and Shayla to stand by his sides, the other two people who had not seen it yet. Makoto had already warned them what to expect. He hit the play button and stepped aside. 

The picture that came up was a sneering blue face that most of the people in the room had seen before. It was one they could hardly forget, given the circumstances of their previous meetings. 

"Greetings," said the man in his rumbling, basso voice. "I expect you will remember who I am. Nevertheless, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Galus, and I speak for the Phantom Tribe." He looked just as he had three years ago. It was an ageless, hawkish face with unsettling, deep-set eyes and straggly silver-white hair spilling over his shoulders. "First of all, I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine." The picture zoomed out. Galus' face did not change, but suddenly he took on the aspect of an utterly different person. He sat in an easy chair, dressed in polo shirt and slacks, holding a baby gently in his hands while he lightly bounced her on his knee. "This is Ai-chan." The baby girl's head was turning this way and that, eyeing the room with avid curiosity. She looked just a little bewildered, nothing worse. 

Makoto resisted the urge to look and see Fujisawa Sensei's reaction. At some moments a man deserved privacy. 

"I will come right to the point," Galus continued. He spoke mildly, as if not wanting to alarm the child he held. "I take it as a given that our presence on this world is not acceptable to you. If my people stay here, a confrontation between us is inevitable. Such a confrontation is not in our interest. There is a very simple way to avoid it. We are going to leave." He paused, as if he wanted to let that sink in or to gather his thoughts. "As you have no doubt gathered, we have gained the ability to move through the wormholes. This is only one of many worlds we have found and settled. It will be a hardship for us to abandon this one, but if that will avoid a conflict then so be it." He nodded, which seemed to be a signal for the cameraman to zoom in on him again. "Now, I will tell you what I want from you. It is simple. Allow us to depart peacefully. I have already set the process in motion. But there are very few of us who have mastered the art of opening the wormholes. It will take time. If you take no action against us, if you allow me to evacuate my people, we can avoid bloodshed. When I and my last pilot are the only ones left, I will deliver Ai-chan to a safe place and inform you where to find her. We will depart, and you shall never hear from us again." His neutral expression hardened. In his eyes, some of the wild, fanatical would-be destroyer of worlds Makoto had seen atop the Eye of God was rekindled. "We have many weapons at our disposal. Move against us and you shall surely regret it. You and many, many others. This is the last warning I shall grant you." He leaned back in his chair and glared into the camera. A second later, the picture was replaced by a blue screen with the word 'stop' in one corner. 

Makoto stepped over to the table and stopped the machine. "Uh, we've run the tape to the end," he said, fishing for something to say. "That's all there is." He finally dared turn to Fujisawa. "I'm sorry, I don't know what more we can do." 

"We can go hunt down these snakes, that's what we can do," Shayla growled. 

"But we can't!" Kauru said, a tremor of dread in her voice. She shrank back, as if astonished to find it was she who had spoken. "Maybe Galus will do what he said," she said in a tiny voice. 

Shayla glared at her. "Do you really believe that?" she growled. 

"Shayla." Afura looked even more displeased than usual with her fellow priestess. Shayla's face fell as the import of her worlds settled in. She shot a furtive, remorseful glance to Fujisawa then averted her eyes awkwardly. 

"I believe Shayla is right." Makoto heard the strain in Ifurita's voice, it was probably obvious to the others as well. She stepped closer to Fujisawa, the others making way for her. "I'm sorry to have to say this, Fujisawa-san. But we have no reason to believe that Galus will keep his word. I believe our best chance of returning your daughter to safety is to find her ourselves." 

"Now you're talking." Shayla had a bit of her previous resolve back. But she practically withered under the icy cold stare that the Demon God sent her way. 

"Even attempting to gather intelligence regarding enemy movement introduces grave risk to the hostage," Ifurita continued in a tone sharp as a razor. She turned her attention back to Fujisawa, and her expression softened immediately. "This is not my decision to make. I will only take action if you give me your permission, Fujisawa-san." 

It hurt Makoto like a knife, seeing his sensei so frightened and lost. His tall, lanky body was stooped over as if a breeze would blow it over. He stared at Ifurita vacantly for just a moment. Then he took two shuffling steps towards her. He reached for her hand, and she clasped his firmly in return. 

"Please," he said in a low, gravely voice. "Bring her back to me." 

"I can make no..." Ifurita's voice trailed off. She gazed up into the tall man's face with something approaching awe, like she saw the answer to some great question there. There was new confidence in her voice when she spoke again. "I will." 

___****___ 

Ifurita pointed to the rightmost of the three laptops arrayed along the coffee table before her. "Print this one as well, please." 

"Okay." Afura slid the slim machine into a more convenient position in front of her and worked the pointing device below the keyboard. A few seconds later, the laser printer on the floor beside her came to life and another picture slowly rolled out of it onto the tray. 

Makoto picked up the paper and looked at it. "I recognize him," he said gravely. "He's the cabinet minister in charge of MITI." 

"MITI?" Alielle asked, turning from her work at the big bulletin board. 

"Ministry of International Trade and Industry." Ifurita had already turned her attention back to the leftmost of the three laptops arrayed on the floor under the others. Her eyes were locked on the screen and her hands did not pause in their typing as she recited what she had obtained from the other machine. "Widowed ten months ago. Heart attack, unusual for a woman that young. His children are grown, they no longer live with him. Since the death of his wife, two things of note. First, criticism that he is no longer effectively coordinating with other ministries. Second, questions of misappropriated funds. These have as yet not led to an investigation due to lack of evidence. At least one potential witness inexplicably refuted earlier statements. Also, I could find no record of him returning to his home prefecture since his wife's death, which I believe is highly unusual." 

"Should I put him on the short list?" Alielle asked. 

"Please." Alielle took the page from Makoto and pinned it on the board as Ifurita continued. "If this is a hit then it would have to be one of their most gifted illusionists. Perhaps we should..." She stopped typing and frowned at the screen. "So. Another one." 

Makoto slid over and peered over her shoulder. She had been telling him that one of the most powerful members of the cabinet was probably Phantom Tribe, he wondered what could suddenly grab her attention away from that. She was paging through an article far too quickly for Makoto to follow. When she got to the end of it she nodded as if it had confirmed something. "Alielle, please also move President Kawabata of Kyushu Electric Power to the short list." 

"Okay." Alielle bent down to the open file cabinet drawer beside her and started flipping through it. 

"You found something new?" Makoto asked. 

She looked up from the screen. "In the past few months there have been some irregularities in the operation of the new unit of the Hatchobara geothermal plant." 

"That's the third geothermal plant I recall your mentioning." 

"It's the fifth," Alielle called from where she was quickly pinning up another of the condensed portfolios Afura had been compiling. She turned around, vaulted the coffee table and trotted over to the big map that had been pinned to the opposite wall. "'Scuse me Shayla," she said, stepping around the priestess sitting on the floor bent over her task. As before the redhead said nothing. The constant repetitive noise of her work had long since become part of the background. "Two of them have red pins, here and here. Two have yellow, here and... uh, here. Um, where's that new one?" 

"Kokonoe-cho, Oita Prefecture," Ifurita said. 

"Got it. It's green, should I change that?" 

"Red, please." 

That meant she was virtually certain that the head of that organization was Phantom Tribe. "Can that many geothermal plants be a coincidence?" Makoto wondered aloud. 

"Unlikely. At least one other I read about followed the same pattern as the Hatchobara plant. High level management brought in external consultants and very quickly afterwards ordered a shutdown for an inspection that nobody else felt was necessary. Senior engineers who objected resigned in protest or were fired, often replaced with one of the consultants." Ifurita had already started typing at one of the other laptops. She was doing searches with six different accounts to minimize the chances of her activity being detected. "I'll do some more searches here, but I'd also like to pay another visit to the microfilm library." She looked back up at Makoto. Her face was more animated now, she was letting more expression slip into her voice. "I think we've found it, Makoto. This is the core of their operations here on Earth. It's centered on geothermal plants and mining operations all along the Japan islands." 

"Do you have any idea what they might be up to?" Afura asked. 

"Not yet. But that is unimportant for now. The point is, we will soon be able to choose a place where we can execute our plan." 

Makoto's trepidation grew with each step closer they came to putting together this plan of theirs. It was all happening so fast. Once they had brought this equipment to the apartment and slapped it together, Ifurita had hardly left the living room at all. The rest of them helped her in shifts, what little help she needed anyway. The map full of pins and the bulletin board full of portfolios was the result of two days of solid work. Ifurita was throwing herself into the task with a fury that went beyond the single-minded focus of a cyborg warrior. Her brief exchange with Fujisawa had done something for her that Makoto couldn't put a name to yet. 

Her attention was grabbed by the screen again. "Another hit. This one a silver mine. I think we're on the right track." 

"How long?" 

Ifurita turned to look at Shayla's back, as if mildly annoyed at the cryptic question. "No more than another day. Tomorrow sometime I would think." 

Shayla raised the blade she had been passing over a whetstone for the past hour. Makoto wasn't sure whether to call it a dagger or a shortsword. The priestess turned and smiled for the first time in three days. "Good." 

___****___ 

The telephone on Chairman Honda's desk rang. A man who was not Chairman Honda of Consolidated Silver Mines picked up his telephone. "Honda here." 

"It's me." 

Kavin sat up straight in his high-back chair. "Ah, good evening, Minister," he said pleasantly, using the title of Galus' front. 

"As of now we are moving on the accelerated schedule." 

This took Kavin by surprise. "I..." To question orders is to betray the Tribe, he reminded himself. But to warn the Master of danger is to preserve the Tribe. "I should mention, that will mean shutting down the mining operations for another half-day, on very short notice. It will raise questions. My position could be seriously compromised." 

"In a few days that will be of no concern." 

Kavin stammered wordlessly for a second before getting his composure back. "Then this is not in preparation for another test," he said, being very careful to maintain a respectful tone. 

"No." 

The matter was ended. "I understand. I will inform you when everything is in place." 

"Good day, Chairman." 

"Good day, Minister." Kavin hung up the phone. He took a deep breath and sighed. What was supposed to be months away would now be happening in a matter of days. The threat from the Rostalians must be grave indeed, for the Master to take such a risk. He shook his head. It would still work but with so many untested factors the results may turn out to be far from optimal. But they would make do. The Tribe would survive. Kavin swung around and looked out over the sprawling city lit orange by the setting sun. The teeming masses of humans went about their business, utterly unaware of what the Master had just set in motion. Galus was right, in a few days none of this would matter. He should just be focusing on his part of the Plan. 

He keyed his intercom. "Miyuki." 

"Yes, Chairman?" his receptionist's voice came. 

"Schedule a meeting of the full operations committee for tomorrow afternoon, one o'clock." 

"Sir, Vice President Matsui is still in Nagano." 

"I know. Tell him to come back tomorrow morning." 

"Yes sir." 

Kavin did some preparatory work before leaving for the day. Tomorrow would be a zoo, the humans would be all aflutter. But in a way it was easier now. He could force the scheduled shutdown without worrying about the consequences to his position. He called his wife to let her know when he would be home and called for the limousine to pick him up. That was one thing he was pleased about, Kavin mused. Now he would have to endure that human sow for just a few more days. He was sure she did not suspect, but she obviously perceived that something had changed. She was becoming more antsy over time. In this case, they had judged the risk of arranging another death was greater than the risk of discovery. Especially since Honda had not used her in any way as a woman the whole time Kavin had been shadowing him. Disappearing the secret mistress had been much less risky than arranging a death for the wife would have been. 

Kavin ate his dinner while watching the news and discussing some banal matter of the garden with his wife. It was with relief that he retired to the privacy of his bath. He lowered his bulk gingerly into the oversized tub of steaming hot water. Kavin was a large man, but Honda had been revoltingly obese. By the time the day to make the switch had come, Kavin had through a regimen worthy of a sumo wrestler nearly matched his weight. The closer his body proportions were to the original, the easier the illusion spell was to maintain. Losing all this flab was another thing he could now look forward to. 

He was just starting to relax when he heard his wife's light footsteps approach. He saw her outline through the frosted glass of the bathing room door. "Honey?" she called from the hallway. She sounded more agitated than usual. 

Oh what now. "Yes dear?" 

"There was a call from the hospital. My sister has been in a car accident." 

Kavin hated that woman even more than his wife. "Is she okay?" Hopefully the cow was dead, not that it really mattered any more. 

"She will be, but they said she's very upset. I've called for a cab, I'm going to go see her." 

"Okay. Give her my regards." 

"Don't wait up for me dear." 

As if. Kavin settled back down into the tub. Odd that the call would have come from the hospital. As he understood, such a call should have come from the police. Well, his study of these people had centered on their primary industries, not their medical and law enforcement institutions, perhaps he was mistaken. At least it meant he had the house to himself for what little of the evening remained. There would be no humans to intrude upon him, just his two shadows watching over him. 

Kavin was just starting to dry himself off when he heard a noise. It sounded like the back door, who would be using it at this hour? Then came the scream. 

Alarm and disbelief froze Kavin in place. It was the voice of one who was supposed to be unseen and unheard. His senior shadow, his invisible guardian. He and his counterpart had been here as long as Kavin, forever watching, observing for signs of trouble. Now Kavin could hear him running this way, screaming for help. 

But his were not screams of panic. He was using the proper keywords, warning Kavin to run. Without even taking a second to put a towel about his loins Kavin slammed the sliding door aside and shot out into the hallway. What he saw explained much. 

His shadow was far down the long hallway, down on the wood floor, madly crawling away from Kavin. He was trailing blood from several places, one of which was his ankle. He had been hamstrung. He was still screaming. Two other figures had emerged into the hallway simultaneously with Kavin. The first one looked in his direction, presumably attracted by the door opening. She pointed. "There he is!" The second figure spun around in response. Wild, demented green eyes locked on his. The red-headed devil girl grinned and raised her bloody knife in anticipation. She stepped closer and Kavin's second shadow burst from the doorway she walked past. 

He should have had the devil girl dead to rights. But his thrust to her throat was spoiled by the copper-haired girl. Kavin's junior shadow screamed, his gashed arm dropping his blade. The girl had looked so harmless, Kavin hadn't even seen that she had a knife as well. 

The devil girl spun and leaped back all in one motion. Kavin's junior shadow sank to his knees. The boy cast his gaze down with a look of utter bewilderment, as if wondering how he was going to get his intestines back into his abdominal cavity. 

They were distracted, both focused on the grisly sight, shaken by their brush with death. Kavin ran straight out the front entrance, not looking back once. It would be just a few seconds to the car, a few seconds more to grab the spare keys from the ashtray. The dark yard was empty and the carport was just in front of him. He crashed straight through the line of little trees, grunting as the coarse foliage raked his legs and man-parts. He grabbed the door handle and something landed behind him. Maybe if he was quick enough- 

It was all over in an instant. Just a horrible blast of pain from his kidney and blessed relief when the blade was withdrawn. "I give you the same chance at life that your assassins gave my friend," a voice murmured in his ear. He would have called it the voice of a woman just from the pitch. But it was no woman, it was the voice of a soulless thing from the Abyss. "My companions would prefer to kill you outright. If that is what you wish, then stay." 

Kavin whimpered and sobbed as he forced his body to move through the torrents of agony that rushed out from his opened side. His shaking hands nearly broke the key in his mad attempts to insert and twist it. The mechanical beast came to life and he tromped down on the gas. Kavin did very little of his own driving. In his panic he ran over two ornamental stone lanterns on the way out. He had to blink his eyes furiously to squeeze out the tears of pain and terror and relief. 

Eventually something like coherent thought started to return. I must warn the Master, Kavin thought. That was the Earth girl who can see through our spells. She and the Rostalian devils might be hunting us all down. Pick up the car phone. Why is there no tone? Why is there no dial tone? Press the button again. Hit the receiver against the wheel. Hit it again. Why is there no tone? Why is there no thrice-damned gods-forsaken tone? Hit it against the dashboard. Broken in half? No, no, no, NO! Have to go faster. Have to get help. Bleeding all over the floor. It's deep. Oh Great Movers, it's really deep. Have to go to the Master, he'll know what to do. 

___****___ 

Ifurita watched the car speed away while she wiped and sheathed the remains of her trick dagger. Satisfied, she retrieved her staff and flew back in through the open front door, ready to provide assistance to the others. It looked like none was required. Their reserve unit, consisting of Afura and Kauru, was already in the hall. They spared just a glance to see Ifurita's arrival, then went back to their sentry duty. Upon arrival it had been Ifurita who had detected the presence outside and Nanami who had pointed out the exact location of the invisible tribesman. All three priestesses reported that they could see him, after a fashion. It was Shayla who had put this to the test, her precision hamstringing of the man attesting to just how well she really could see him. That was one bit of very good news, it confirmed that with some work the priestesses could also see through the Phantom Tribe's illusions. Quite properly, Afura and Kauru were taking advantage of this fact, watching to see if any more tribesmen were about. 

Shayla entered the hallway again. Her long knife was now sheathed. She walked with a loose, relaxed gait, but Ifurita could sense the lingering adrenaline rush that yet seethed through her body. "The first one's dead," she reported, not elaborating upon how that happened. She turned to Ifurita. "Did you do it?" 

"He is away, the tracer is in his body. He is headed for the mountains, as I had expected." 

"Good." Shayla walked over to the last member of their strike team, who was now sitting on her haunches, her back against a wall. She was uninjured, but she did not look at all well. Shayla picked up Nanami's knife, which was still lying on the floor. She wiped it off with her cloth as she squatted down beside the shivering girl. "Hey," she said softly. "You okay?" Nanami just nodded, her eyes still not focused on anything in particular. "Thanks, that was really decent knife work. Here-" 

"Get it the hell away from me!" Nanami's hands went up and clamped on both sides of her head. Her breathing was more ragged now. Shayla just stared at her with a bewildered look while her friend tried to calm down. When she spoke again, it was in a lower, carefully modulated voice. "Look, just get it away from me, okay?" 

Ifurita had watched this scene repeated all too often on the ancient battlefields of her youth. It took on a whole new meaning when it happened to one of her friends. She could only comfort herself with the knowledge that the distraught girl would recover, given time and given their help. But right now, there were more pressing matters to deal with. "I should go follow Honda's double," Ifurita said. "His driving was erratic. If it attracts the attention of the police I will need to divert them." Afura frowned. "I will be discreet," Ifurita added. "You should all leave by the agreed routes." Afura was to fly Nanami out and Kauru would take Shayla by the water route, whisking them through the rivers and canals. 

"No." Nanami brought herself up onto unsteady feet. 

Afura walked over and put a hand very lightly on her shoulder. "Nanami, we have to go." 

"Fine," Nanami snapped. "But take me to a telephone before we go home. We'll find one around here." 

Afura shook her head in puzzlement. "Why?" 

"I'm making an anonymous call to the police, telling them there's a disturbance here. I want them to find... this," she gestured towards the disemboweled young boy without looking at him, "Before Honda's wife does. It won't take her long to figure out that call was bogus." 

Afura sighed. "Yes, of course." She turned back to Ifurita. "Best of luck," 

Ifurita lifted off the floor, flew back out the front door and straight up into the air. It did not take her long to catch up with her prey. She stayed just close enough to be able to see his car, and to be able to intervene if anything happened. He was on a highway now, heading out of the city and up into the mountains. What little lore the Rostalians had on the Phantom Tribe suggested that they tended to settle in deep caves, preferably in remote mountain regions. It was thought that only a fraction of their numbers had the illusionist skills required to walk among humans. The rest were thought to dwell in these underground nests where they would work upon the alien technologies they were so keen on making their own. 

Nobody believed the story that the Phantom Tribe were preparing to abandon the Earth, least of all Ifurita. The patterns she had found in their actions all pointed towards a very elaborate, very carefully coordinated project. Activity had been slowly accelerating for months, building up to something that Ifurita could not as yet even guess at. Considering what they had been prepared to do - had almost done - on El Hazard, the possibilities were frightening. 

But right now that was a moot point. She had a promise to keep and a life to save, nothing else mattered. 

After some time, her prey turned off the highway. Ifurita was relieved. She had been very precise in the cut she made, the wound would cause enough pain and bleeding to put the man into a panic but not enough to disable him. At least not for a while. If he did not receive treatment within another couple of hours he would likely collapse and die. It would be unfortunate if that happened before he led her to his master's lair. She had no doubt now that was where he was headed. Naked and bleeding to death, his companions dead, his communications device disabled, he would run back to his master. 

As he worked his way further into the mountains, Ifurita dropped farther back. Abruptly his pace slowed down to a crawl. He was on foot now. She dropped down to the ground and began running up the slope he had been ascending, flying across each switchback of the road her prey had taken. She had been in stealth mode the whole way, but dropping out of flight mode further decreased the risk of detection. If this truly was Galus' lair, it would be closely guarded. 

He was already moving underground. The signal was rapidly weakening. She pinpointed the spot where he had begun his descent, moved more cautiously towards it. This was the critical point, where she must decide whether to actually make the rescue attempt by herself. Her analysis of the audio portion of Galus' message suggested an irregular room, like a cave. She had little doubt Ai was being held here. The only question was whether an assault upon the entrance she had now found was the best hope of retrieving her. 

She skirted the edge of a clearing which held a tall A-frame mountain cabin. Peering quickly through the trees she noted Honda's car parked beside it. Most likely it was something owned by one of the men whose dopplegangers now stood in their place. The entrance she sought would be somewhere further up the slope from it. She took a couple of extra minutes to make a wide path around the spot, approaching it from upslope. Her passive sensors were showing nothing. When Nanami had pointed out the tribesman at the house for them he had been invisible even to Ifurita's eyes. But she had detected his presence... accurately enough to have been able neutralize him had Shayla not been able to. If they were nearby, she would detect them. There was nobody, which Ifurita found puzzling. 

#Move to these coordinates. Retrieve the object required to complete your mission.# 

Ifurita froze in place. Despair gripped her heart, something not even all her combat regulators could suppress. It was the same kind of signal as before. The coordinates given were of the entrance she had pinpointed. They knew she was here. 

She made her decision, threw open all her links with the Voices. Full shields and active sensors. One entity detected. Flight mode, go above tree line, maximum speed. Approaching target. Locking target. Checking target. Correction, two targets. First target identified, eighty percent certainty. Second target identified, seventy percent certainty. Not hostile. 

Ifurita hovered above the little clearing, her stunned mind unable to accept the assessment that the Voices were calmly spoon-feeding her with. Her eyes told her the same impossible thing. 

The woman holding the sleeping baby in the crook of her arm looked calmly up at the Demon God that had a doomsday weapon trained on her. "Hello Ifurita. It's been a while." 

Slowly, unthinkingly, Ifurita powered down weapons and settled to the ground. The Voices were all warning her that she was still in hostile territory. She hardly noticed them. "Erinyes..." she whispered. 

She had changed little. Her black hair was now cropped short. One of her eyes had been replaced by an implant that glowed red. Her slim body was covered by a dull black body suit with matching boots, gloves and high collar. She held her slim white power staff upright at her side. Ifurita's mind was caught in blinding white noise between being elated and being horrified at the implications of what she was seeing. 

Without a word, the other Demon God walked across the clearing towards her. Ifurita just stood there and waited, utterly at a loss for words. As Erinyes approached, Ifurita could see other changes that the distance and the dim moonlight had hidden. Her hair was actually a rough skullcap that Ifurita recognized as a cooling unit... functional, but not something meant to be used on an anthropomorphized cyborg. Gleaming machinery peeked out from under her high collar... that and subtle irregularities showing in her body suit suggested that most of her organic skin had been replaced with inorganic plating. Even her face, perhaps now the only visible living tissue on her, was rough and scarred as if from repeated incisions. "Oh Erinyes... what happened to you?" 

"Ten thousand years happened to me, Ifurita. Here." Erinyes stabbed her staff into the ground and used both hands to hold the baby out. Ai was wrapped up tightly in blankets. Only her peaceful, sleeping face was visible. Ifurita sank her own staff into the soft earth and very carefully took the bundle into her own arms. She looked down, frowning, reaching out with all her senses. Ai seemed to be fine, vital signs and brain waves indicated a deep, healthy sleep. 

"She has been mildly sedated," Erinyes explained, stepping back again and retrieving her staff. "She will likely not awaken for a few hours. Do not be concerned about that, she has been well fed and cared for." 

Ifurita settled the baby into the crook of her arm and looked back up. She hardly knew where to begin. Instincts pressed her to deal with the most immediate matter. "She was being held by the Phantom Tribe. Have you taken her from them? Are we in danger from them here?" 

"You must have figured out the truth by now, Ifurita." 

Yes, she had. It was a moment before she could bring herself to speak the words. "You're the one who brought the Phantom Tribe here." 

She nodded. "I sent the signal that brought you to the cabin. I was there in fact, it looked as if you were aware of my cloak field. I was the one who remembered how to write your name in the ancient script. I even filmed Galus' message." 

"You helped him kidnap her," Ifurita said, more pain than anger in her voice. 

"He took the action on his own, on the spur of the moment. I warned him it would not deter you from seeking him out, but once the deed was done it was worth a try. The fact that you are here proves that I was right. When poor Kavin came stumbling in I suspected you would not be far behind." 

"Erinyes... why?" 

"I want the same thing as Galus. I want to avoid a confrontation with you. I am hoping this is the way to do it." 

"That's not what I'm asking." 

Erinyes lips came up in a mirthless smile. "You mean why am I working with the Phantom Tribe? No, they have not reactivated my keylock, I am helping them of my own free will." 

"Do you know what it is they're planning to do here?" 

Her expression hardened. "Ifurita, because of what we shared all those years ago I will give you this warning only. Take anything you value and leave this world. Go back to El Hazard or wherever you please. But if you wish to abide with humans then do not come back here. Their time on this world is done." 

Ifurita felt sick. "There are five billion souls on this world. Do you mean to kill them all?" 

"We are simply hastening what is inevitable," Erinyes said. "This world is but a carbon copy of ours, producing the same sort of abominations." 

"What abominations?" Ifurita asked. 

"I mean us. We are abominations, you and I. Weapons built out of terror to feed on that terror. The Earthlings are plunging down the road of destruction with a speed and an enthusiasm that makes the Warlords of our day look like meek, hesitant children. One day their weapons would do far worse than anything we have planned." 

"Erinyes, has Galus told you what he tried to do on El Hazard?" 

"Yes, he tried to self-destruct the Eye of God, to rid us of that obscenity forever." 

"He tried to destroy El Hazard!" 

Erinyes just shook her head. "No, he tried to turn it into a lovely, peaceful world of perpetual twilight." 

Ifurita's face screwed up in revulsion and disbelief. "What?" she rasped. 

"I've been to their homeworld," Erinyes continued, ignoring Ifurita's reaction. "I came upon it a very long time ago. Of course there they don't call themselves the Phantom Tribe there. They call themselves the Eyes, the Eyes of the World. And what a world it is, Ifurita. It is old, almost as old as the universe itself. The Eyes have been there for billions of years. *Billions,* Ifurita. They bring about things of sublime beauty that I cannot even begin to describe. They welcomed me and I stayed with them. I had never been happier." 

Her expression darkened. "Then the catastrophe came. We had no idea what it was, but it simply swallowed up a whole country. Everything in that part of the world was gone, stripped clean. The Eyes of the World were frightened and bewildered, but we set that horrible mystery behind us and went on with life. Much later, when the end of my life was upon me, when my systems would no longer sustain me, I chose the blasted earth of that poor, raped country as my resting place. Can you guess what happened next?" 

Ifurita had already figured that out. "The Eye of God fired a second time. It pulled you back to El Hazard." 

She nodded. "It deposited me in the same wasteland it had thrown those of the Eyes who would become the Phantom Tribe. Many of them still abide there. They found me, recognized me for what I was. They already had much of the ancient technology, so they rejuvenated me." An ironic smile curled her lip and her hand swept down her body. "As best they could. When I understood who they were and what had happened to them, I decided to help them." 

"So you brought them to an unsuspecting world," Ifurita said bitterly. "One where the people had no defense against them." 

"That was not my original intention," Erinyes said. "Yes, I was looking for a new homeworld for them. But my first stop along the way was Earth. When I saw that the Earthlings had gone the way of our ancient masters, I knew I need look no further. I could give the Phantom Tribe a new home and stamp out the perverted Empire of Man all in one stroke." 

"Why not just take them back to their homeland?" Ifurita asked. 

Erinyes let out a sharp breath of annoyance. "The descendants of those who were cast from the home world are not what their forefathers were, they well know that. They have been tainted with their contact with man, the thought of returning to their homeland in that state is repulsive to them. Their only hope of gaining back what they lost is to start again in a land that has been swept clean of man's abominations." 

"Is that what they have done on the other worlds they have conquered?" Ifurita asked, making no attempt to take the anger out of her voice. "Have they already killed billions?" 

Erinyes chuckled lightly. "There are no other worlds, Ifurita. That was a ruse to buy time, to make the evacuation story plausible. You still don't get it. Even after all they have been through, the Phantom Tribe are still not at all like man. They do not dream of becoming immortal masters of all creation. They never wanted more than their own little world. The Eyes have forgotten more about the stars and the heavens than man could hope to ever learn in a million years. Yet in all that time the very idea of riding out in conquest never even occurred to them. When the Phantom Tribe have made this world like unto the one they were ripped from, they will become one with it, as the Eyes did with theirs. Then here they will stay, hoping for nothing more than to make something like the sublime wonders of their homeworld that are now only legends to them. They will live only for this world, forsaking all others. They will stay with this world for all the eons it has left, and when it finally dies they will die with it as is the natural way of things." 

"Why must it be this world?" Ifurita asked, caring nothing for the mad nonsense Erinyes was trying to tell her. "Is it revenge for what happened to them? The Earthlings have done nothing to you!" 

"The Earthlings dream of ruling over all of space and time. Soon, mere centuries from now, they may have the tools to do it with. I will not let that happen." 

Ifurita shook her head in disbelief. "Erinyes, you don't know what you're saying..." 

"Oh but I do. It was many centuries before I came across the Eyes of the World, you know. Before then I had been to countless other worlds. Many held civilized peoples among whom I would live for a time. But far more numerous than that were blasted hulks full of nothing but fossils. They were the works of those not content with the life their world blessed them with. Would-be conquerors fear nothing so much as each other, and that always dooms them. I have seen more than one of man's cousins wipe themselves out in an orgy of fear and hate, seen it with my own eyes. I know what the Earthlings will do, given time. When you have seen what I have seen, then you will understand. What we shall do here pales next to what the Earthlings will do if they are left to pursue their mad dreams. This is a doomed world, we are saving it. And maybe saving countless others." 

"Erinyes..." Ifurita sighed and shook her head. "Erinyes, look at you, look at what they have done to you. They have turned you back into an instrument of destruction. Is that what you want?" 

"That is what we are, Ifurita. The instruments always come back to destroy those who make them, that is as it should be. And in fact I appreciate what the Phantom Tribe have done to me. It is a more honest appearance, it shows what I am. I hate masquerading as a human just as much as they do. They accept me for what I am, and when they have made their new world they will welcome me into it." 

"We would welcome you as you are, Erinyes." 

Erinyes shook her head. "I could not live in this world of humans, knowing as I do what they must become one day, what they will do." 

"But you are doing that already!" Ifurita said, desperately looking for the one thing, the word that might get through to her. "You are about to create another of those dead hulks, those worlds of fossils!" 

Erinyes sighed. "Ifurita, even if we linked minds and I showed you all that I have seen it would be but fleeting images to you. It would take a thousand years for you to truly see the Earthlings as they are, to see why I know where they are headed. But you do not have a thousand years. In a matter of days this world will be no more and there is nothing you can do about it, just accept that." Her lips curled up in a sad little smile. "I see your plan in your eyes already, Ifurita. Return the infant to your friends, come back here and reduce this mountain to rubble. I would not even try to stop you. What you would destroy is just one small part of a massively redundant system, not even you could destroy enough of it to matter. Our plan would proceed, you would accomplish nothing." 

Ifurita was not expecting an answer, but she had to try. "Just how do you plan to transform this world into your twilight paradise?" Only some of her bitterness was calculated. 

"I am leaving now," Erinyes said, ignoring the question. "I do not begrudge you your friendship with the humans, which is why I have given you back the one thing that might have held them to this world. If you value their lives then convince them to leave. Make it soon." 

Ifurita knew she could not do that. But she caught herself before saying so. In the battle to come, surprise might be a factor. She hated herself for thinking that way. "Erinyes... damn you." 

"We were born damned, Ifurita. As were those who made us and all like them. One day you will understand that. Perhaps then we will meet again. Until then, good-bye." She began to rise into the air. 

"Erinyes?" The black-clad cyborg halted her ascent, looked down at Ifurita. "Did you ever find your soul mate?" 

Her expression darkened. "He died. They all do." She shot up into the sky with greater speed now. In just a second she was out of sight. 

Ifurita stared after her for a moment. In her heart had been a place for the fellow Demon God who had built the temple where Makoto found her, who had called her sister. That place had been filled with hopes for all the wonders Erinyes had seen, the long life she had led. Now in that place there was nothing but a gaping hole. It hurt worse than any injury she could imagine. This must be what Fujisawa felt, she thought, what he felt when he saw his wife lying on the floor bleeding to death. 

She looked down at the baby girl tucked in her arm, still sleeping soundly. "Let us get you home, little one." 

As she flew, she tried to imagine the moment when she would put Ai into her father's arms. Thinking of that made the pain in her heart almost bearable. 

End Chapter 4 

Next Chapter: Fall of Darkness 


	5. Default Chapter Title

This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction based on the El Hazard series. Note that it is based on the continuity of the two OAV series and the second television series "The Alternative World". It certainly contains spoilers for the first OAV series, and a few for the second OAV series. At this point, six chapters are planned. Though I call them "chapters" they are more or less independent stories (which is what I said about my Sailor Moon stories, so you're free to believe as much of that as you like). 

El Hazard and characters therein were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura, and brought to North America by Pioneer LDC. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply. I'll give this one a PG rating. 

Language note: "Uso" means "lie." By itself it can mean "That's a lie." 

Ken Wolfe 

Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca 

El Hazard - Earth Chapter 5 - Fall of Darkness 

Ifurita rode in the back with Fujisawa and the baby, her staff locked away in the trunk. It occurred to her that normally she would be the one to ride in front with Makoto instead of Alielle. But right now she was deriving a great deal of comfort from watching the reunited father and child. She had not strayed far from them since yesterday when she had placed Ai back into her father's arms. In these times she felt protective about all of her friends. But she was astonished at the depth of feeling that the little girl had now kindled in her. She supposed she was getting a glimpse of what it was that Fujisawa and Miz felt for their child. 

Ai-chan herself seemed very pleased with the change of venue. A quick trip to a clinic had confirmed that she was in good health and had not been mistreated. Other than being rather hungry when she awakened, she showed no adverse effects from the kidnapping. She was just very pleased to be back among familiar faces. In fact right now she was reaching out expectantly towards Ifurita's smiling face. 

This was not lost on Fujisawa. "What is it, Ai-chan? Would you like Ifurita-obasan to hold you for a while?" 

"Sensei!" Alielle said in a scandalized voice. She twisted around to fix him with a shocked, worried look. "That's not nice. You should say Ifurita-onesan." She really looked like she expected the Demon God to exact bloody vengeance for the slight. 

Ifurita chuckled lightly. "I dare say I'm more than old enough to be Ifurita-obasan." She and Fujisawa did the hand-off, as they had more than once since leaving the apartment. "I'm sure that's what she'll be calling me one day. Isn't that right, Ai-chan?" Ai happily joined in the grownups' game of making strange noises with their mouths. 

"Hey, she said your name!" Alielle exclaimed. "She said Ifurita!" 

"I heard gi-gi-ga," Makoto said. "I don't think she's beyond 'mama' yet." 

"Ma-ma!" Ai agreed. 

"That's right," Ifurita said, smiling down at her. "We're going to see your mama." 

The baby's return and anticipation of her reunion with her mother had put them all in a state something like euphoria. It was something that not even Ifurita's shocking news could dampen. Ifurita could not help but also lose herself in the sublime joy of a family reunited. But she knew full well the harsh reality they would have to face when this moment of tranquillity had passed them. 

Nanami and the three priestesses met them in the waiting room of the hospital. Nanami informed them that Miz had just been moved out of the IC ward. She led them to Miz' new room, warning them that they may have to wait a while. They all waited outside the closed door. Those who had not seen Ai since her return reacquainted themselves as enthusiastically as the decorum of a hospital ward would allow. 

Shortly the door opened and a nurse emerged. She closed the door behind her and approached the group, smiling. "Good morning, Fujisawa-san. Is this your daughter?" 

"That's my girl," he said, beaming. 

"My, what a cutie." Her expression sobered just a bit. "I've got her settled in," she said softly. "She's awake, but still very tired. I know she'll be very excited, but try to be as quick as possible. She needs to sleep." 

"Of course." 

"And it would be best if you took your daughter in by yourself," the nurse added, sweeping the group with a firm but apologetic glance. 

Fujisawa looked a bit embarrassed. "Um, I wonder, would it be okay to let one other see her?" he asked with a sheepish smile. 

"Yes, I suppose so. I'm so happy to hear your daughter was returned safely, Fujisawa-san." 

"Thank you." 

It looked like word had spread quickly, Ifurita noted. Most likely the police knew by now as well. Questions were obviously going to be asked. Just one more thing to worry about. Ifurita's introspection was interrupted when she noticed Fujisawa approaching her. "Ifurita, would you carry Ai-chan in for me?" 

Ifurita was at a loss for words, overcome with a whirlwind of feelings. She had not even considered that Fujisawa's request might have meant her. Fujisawa had already told Miz that Ai-chan was safe, had told her last night when she had woken briefly. But that made this no less special a reunion. "Fujisawa-san... I couldn't. This is a private moment for you." 

"You brought her back to me. I'd like you to bring her back to Miz as well." 

"I... "she had to engage regulators to get control of her throat back again. Her look of astonishment melted into a smile of gratitude. "Thank you, Fijusawa-san. I would be happy to." She regretted just how inadequate words could often be. Fujisawa handed Ai to her and went to open the door for them. He smiled at her. "Go ahead," he whispered encouragingly. Ifurita felt utterly unworthy for this sacred task. But she proceeded into the room anyway. It was a small private room, much more pleasant than the IC ward full of its cold machinery. Lights were on but the curtains were drawn, presumably in preparation for the sleep Miz would be needing. 

Miz' hospital bed was angled up to let her sit comfortably. Ifurita had but an instant to observe her waiting in anxious anticipation. She looked as if her daughter's return was still not a reality she could fully accept. Then she saw them and she was transformed. "Ai-chan..." Ifurita's eyes devoured her friend's face with the same hunger that had driven her on the hunt for Ai's kidnappers. She fixed the sight into memory both human and inhuman, saved it for a future time when she might find the words to convey some small part of it. Carefully, reverently, the Demon God leaned over and placed Ai into her mother's waiting arms. The scene became one that Ifurita had seen many times before - Miz murmuring softly to her baby girl, playing with her, gently kissing her, while Fujisawa looked on with an expression of utter contentment. Miz' voice was light and sparkling like spring-water, as it always was at such time. The only difference was the tears streaming down Miz' cheeks. 

When the time was right, Fujisawa sat on the edge of the bed, and it was the three of them for a while. The two parents made Ai laugh and squirm with their antics. When Miz' tears were done, when her joy had settled into quiet contentment, Fujisawa leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Time to say good-bye, love," he said very softly. Surprisingly, she just nodded and handed Ai back to him. Ifurita, who had been feeling more and more like an intruder, was suddenly the center of Miz' attention. The Demon God could not have moved or looked away no matter how hard she tried. "Thank you, Ifurita," she said in a tremulous voice. "For my life and for hers, thank you." 

"Witnessing this sight is all the thanks I could ever ask." Miz reached out her hand and Ifurita took it. "Your happiness is mine." 

"Before you go, may I ask one more favor of you?" Miz asked. Her voice was steadier now. But she sounded weary, the excitement had obviously taken its toll on her barely recovered body. 

"Of course, anything." 

"From now on I would like for Ai to be your child as well. Would you consent to be her godmother?" 

It was several seconds before Ifurita answered. "Yes, of course." She wiped a single tear away. "I would be honored." 

"Thank you." 

Ifurita released Miz' hand. "I should let you get ready for sleep now. Fujisawa-san, I will await you outside." 

"I'll be out shortly," he said, his smile of gratitude matching his wife's. Ifurita turned and headed for the door. Now out of their sight, she let her face settle naturally into the cold, grim mask with which she contemplated the task ahead. Her goddaughter was born of two worlds, Ifurita would protect both of them. She would hunt down those who had come to destroy this one. If she had to find each and every nest, if she had to blast them all right down to the planet's liquid mantle, she would rid the Earth of the Phantom Tribe, once and for all. 

___****___ 

Riding into battle in the back seat of a luxury sedan, Nanami mused. Not exactly the stuff of epic adventure. But of course fighting the Phantom Tribe had never felt like adventure, not even in El Hazard. Each encounter with them had simply moved from wild adrenaline rush to desperate relief at being still alive. The last one, the one she had walked into of her own free will, had been the worst, preceded as it was by an eternity of sick dread. Something like she was feeling right now. 

Nanami held hands with Kauru, who took the middle seat. Shayla sat on the other side, arms crossed. Unlike the other two, she really seemed to be chomping at the bit, raring to go. The last occupant of the rear seat - a delivery from Makoto's recent trip back to El Hazard - sat quietly in Nanami's lap. The spectacularly maned cat watched the passing countryside with mild interest. Nanami had often wondered before just how much of what was going on Ula really understood. The cat did talk, after all, though her words were simple enough that a skeptic might pass it off as the mimicry of a parrot. But she obviously understood enough to accept Makoto's instructions, to come along and protect Nanami. Since she still absolutely refused to carry a blade, the cat's remarkable armor was her only means of protection. 

They were not necessarily going out to fight Phantom Tribe. A 'reconnaissance in force' was what Ifurita had called it. That was just an exercise in semantics, as far as Nanami was concerned. 

Fujisawa slowed down the car. "Here's the place," he said, pointing to their right. The country road they followed was met by a small gravel road disappearing into the woods that covered the foothills rising into the mountains on their right. 

"Please proceed," Ifurita said from her place beside him. That meant she had detected nothing with her 'passive sensors', whatever that meant. 

Fujisawa turned up the road, and soon the rice fields they had been skirting disappeared in the trees behind them. Almost immediately the rough road opened into a little gravel parking lot. It was empty. Fujisawa killed the engine and they all got out. He opened the trunk for Ifurita and she retrieved her staff. "That way, I guess," Fujisawa said, pointing to a rough foot path at the other end of the clearing that wound its way further up the slope. 

Ifurita nodded. "We should be on our guard from this point on. Ula, if you please." She gestured towards Nanami. 

"Okay!" the cat said in her chirpy, clipped voice. Ula crouched and leaped straight up at Nanami. She stiffened involuntarily. She knew what to expect, but it was still a shock. The cat's body distended like rubber as she flew. She did not land on Nanami so much as envelop her. A second later Nanami's whole torso was wrapped in orange cat fur... no, wrapped in orange cat. A cat-head now stuck out of her collarbone, smiling up at her. It gave Nanami a very queasy feeling. "Nanami warm?" the cat-head asked cheerily. 

"Uh... yeah. Thanks." Ula's unwaveringly bright manner helped settle Nanami's nerves a little. And having the soft, distended cat body enveloping her was giving her a... oh go ahead and say it, a warm fuzzy feeling. 

Ifurita led the way up the path. Nanami was not the only one scanning the woods warily, though her special vision was the main reason she was here. The others might be confounded by Phantom Tribe illusions, but at least they had means of dealing with the enemy. Of course the priestesses had both their lamps and their blades. Fujisawa carried nothing... but Nanami would swear she could see his aura with her own eyes. He hadn't smoked or drank at all in the past four days... in his current state, a weapon simply would have been redundant. 

In just a couple of minutes they came upon it, a little shrine nestled in the woods. "I assume this is it," Ifurita commented. 

"Yes, it is," Kauru said. "I can feel it." She approached the front of the old shrine building, bowed her head and stood in silent prayer for a moment before proceeding to the task she had come here to perform. 

They were in a valley on the opposite side of the mountain where Ifurita had met that other Demon God. Despite what this Erinyes had said, Ifurita still felt this was the core of the Phantom Tribe's operations, and their most important nest. But she had no intention of assaulting the entrance she had located. Again, in spite of Erineys' words, she assumed that by now it was defended or sealed or laid with traps. They needed another way in. Which was when Kauru had made her suggestion: find me a nearby holy place where I can better focus my power. 

Kauru knelt down on the ground and put her hand down upon the bare earth. She was silent for a moment. "There is a waterway far below," she said at length. "Not here, further to the east. It angles in towards the mountain, going even deeper. Its course is very irregular. It has probably changed its course many times." She stood up and turned to face the group again. "It has certainly left many deep natural caverns behind over time." 

Ifurita simply nodded. "We will proceed, then. Thank you, Kauru. Let's return to the car." 

Fujisawa drove them further down the road. Nanami wished that Makoto or Afura could have come as well... they were few enough as it was, they who would challenge the Phantom Tribe in their own lair. But somebody had to stay and watch over Miz and the child. The stricken woman was still not well enough to take back to El Hazard, the risk of complications was still too great. The Rostalian doctors could treat a surprising number of ailments with their herbs and potions, but major abdominal trauma was not one of them. Nanami did feel grateful for Ula's presence at least, a side benefit of the quick trip to El Hazard that Makoto and Afura had made. Makoto had said little of that trip, other than to mention that Rune had pledged any help she could provide. Which under the circumstances was unfortunately not much of anything. 

She can offer us a bolt hole, Nanami thought grimly. A place to go back to if we fail. 

Kauru had to get out and feel the earth below her two more times before deciding upon the best area. Fujisawa parked the car at the edge of the wooded foothills again, next to a shed that no doubt belonged to the nearest of the rice farms that covered the valley floor. He said the farmers would be well used to hikers and such using the space. By this time it was late in the morning already, and some of the chill had been taken from the air. Once again, he found them a path and they walked further up into the rolling foothills. When they came to a reasonably level clearing Kauru stopped them again. She put her hand down upon the sandy soil. "This will be a good place," she announced. The young priestess looked nervously up at Ifurita. "Did you wish to try and see it, Ifurita-sama?" 

"Yes, I would." Ifurita knelt down beside Kauru and put her own hand to the ground. She closed her eyes and was still as a statue for a while. Then she looked back to Kauru. "I confess this technique still confounds me. I know well how you manipulate water, but how you can sense it at such a distance with no active sensors is beyond my understanding." 

"I don't really see it," Kauru said. "It's more like I become part of the water. I'm sorry, it's very difficult to describe. I could try and teach you, but it would take a long time." 

"Too bad it's not something you can attack her with," Shayla said. "Then she could learn it in two seconds flat." Her belligerent expression wavered and she looked nervously at Ifurita. "Uh, no offense." 

"None taken. You are correct, it is only forms of attack I can integrate in that way." She stood up. "Kauru, please take us in." 

Kauru also stood. "Everyone, please gather closely around me." The petite young priestess practically disappeared behind the group pressed around her. It was hard to believe such a diminutive package could unleash the elemental forces of nature. But Nanami had seen her power, had seen her move the waters in ways both colossal and delicate, and do it with confidence. They were in good hands. That made Nanami feel just a tiny bit less apprehensive. 

She first detected it as a low rumbling, more felt through her feet than heard. Like a subway train approaching. Then all of a sudden it was upon them. Water erupted out of the earth all around them, enveloping them. It formed a whirling globe all around the group, lifting them from the ground. It felt like standing upon rubber. Off balance for a moment, Nanami involuntarily put her arm out, brushing it against the shimmering bubble of water that enveloped them. It was like sliding her hand across a frictionless rubber surface. It was cool to the touch, but her hand did not come away wet, as if not a single drop of the water was willing to be diverted from the course Kauru had set for it. Nanami had heard her and Miz talking about this, something to do with manipulating surface tension. 

The earth that had been below their feet crumbled and distended, the water parting it, pushing it aside. Nanami shivered, thinking of the sort of force it was exerting. She had no doubt this innocent looking water could crush them like bugs just as easily as envelop them in this protective pocket of air. She kept her arms close around her, resting them against the comforting warmth of the cat-armor. 

The earth swallowed them up and they descended quickly. Only now was it apparent that the water bubble around them was glowing with a shimmering blue light. It dimly illuminated the earth and rock that swept past all around them. Their little envelope of air expanded and compressed as they took their winding path down, slipping through fissures and forcing their way through layers of softer minerals that the water had found coursing through the massive blocks of hard granite. Their descent became slower and more tortuous as they descended, as if even the remarkably animated water was finding it difficult to force a path for them. 

Finally they broke out into a great tunnel filled almost to the top with gently flowing water. "This is the river," Kauru explained. "Our progress will be much faster now." Indeed it was. Especially when the tunnel would make sudden, unexpected plunges that would leave Nanami's stomach up around her neck, as if here the water had broken down to another stratum. But none of this seemed to take Kauru by surprise, she guided them swiftly and smoothly through every twist and turn. They were a little globe of phosphorescence gliding through the utter blackness of the tunnel. Rock that had not seen light since before dinosaurs tread the earth slid by around them, illuminated by the water priestess' power. 

"We are approaching the base of the mountain," Kauru announced at length. 

"At last," Nanami said. She was beginning to think they were going to the center of the earth by now. "We must have gone miles." 

"I concur, we are close," Ifurita said. "Kauru, begin probing for openings." 

"Okay." Their progress slowed. It looked like Kauru was just letting them flow with the underground river now. The level of the light increased. Nanami supposed this was because more of the water was now under Kauru's control. They had explained the theory to the rest of the team before they left. They were hoping the Phantom Tribe had opened their caves to this river as a water source. That opening was what Kauru's enchanted water was now probing for. Cutting their own passage would risk detection, they wanted to avoid it if possible. 

A frown creased the water priestess' brow. "Something's wrong," she said just before Nanami could ask. "The water further ahead is becoming agitated. Like its course is suddenly being changed, its flow restricted." She shook her head. "Like there's a rock slide or something, but it's odd." 

"No sign of openings yet?" Ifurita asked. 

"No. We are in solid granite now. I could not force an opening, at least not quickly." 

"If you could tell me which way, I could make us one," Fujisawa said, cracking his knuckles. 

"I don't want to risk using active sonar if we can help it," Ifurita said. "Kauru, proceed slowly." 

"Yes, Ifurita-sama." She looked more apprehensive now, as if spooked by whatever it was she was sensing further ahead. Nanami found herself squinting, peering into the inky blackness ahead of their little envelope of light. 

"Somebody's using power nearby," Shayla snapped, making Nanami jump. 

"You're certain?" Ifurita asked. 

"Yeah. Kauru's water was masking it before. But I'm sure now." She went down to a crouch. "It's up ahead." 

"I see something," Fujisawa said, squinting into the darkness ahead of them. 

"I see it as well," Ifurita said. "Kauru, stop us here. See if you can give us more light there." 

Nanami also looked down the tunnel, knowing they were depending on her to see through any illusions the Phantom Tribe may try to use. As Kauru's light extended further down the tunnel, something did emerge from the darkness. She should confirm that this was not one. "It's like there are stalactites and stalagmites up ahead." 

"That's impossible," Fujisawa said. "There couldn't be, not in-" 

"They're growing!" Nanami exclaimed. "They're merging!" 

"Like a cage," Shayla said. "Damn, they know we're here. How the hell are they doing that? Are you sure it's not an illusion?" 

"Not if Nanami sees it," Ifurita said. "I am sending out a sonar pulse." She didn't need to explain the implications of this. They were discovered, stealth was no longer an issue. "There is a tunnel five meters to our right and slightly up. Fujisawa-san, can you manage that?" 

He was already rolling up his sleeves, a crooked grin on his face. "Just get me to the wall and I'll take care of it." 

"Kauru, up there please," Ifurita said, pointing above. They ascended to the top of the rough tunnel and broke the surface of the water. Nanami now had the curious sensation of walking upon water. The gummy surface held her in place solidly. The rock closed them in tightly, there was barely room to stand. 

"Right." Without further preamble, Fujisawa wound up and slammed his fist into the solid rock wall before him, a move that for most people would have resulted in nothing but a shattered hand. But it was the brittle rock that shattered spectacularly, great huge chunks breaking away and slipping below the surface of the water. Nanami winced. She knew he was practically indestructible in his current state, but it was still painful to watch. He attacked the wall with a dizzying barrage, more and more pulverized rock falling down in his wake. In short order he was standing within the beginnings of a very rough little tunnel. Ifurita flew in behind him and started clearing out the biggest rocks, rolling them out and letting them sink into the river. "How'm I doing?" Fujisawa asked her. 

"Fine. Keep going in that direction." 

"Can't you do this faster with your staff?" Shayla called. As usual, inactivity was making her impatient. 

"The risk of collapsing the tunnel is too great here," Ifurita answered, rolling yet another boulder into the water. She turned back into the tunnel but stopped halfway. Her expression suddenly showed alarm. She cocked her head as if listening for something. "Fujisawa-san, please stop for a-" But Fujisawa had already stopped his mad assault on the end of his growing tunnel. He must have felt it too. 

Shayla was looking about wildly. "What the-" 

"Kauru, get the others below the surface, you can protect them there!" Ifurita said sharply. Kauru was complying even before Ifurita was done. Their feet dropped out from under them and the three of them slipped below the surface, enveloped once again in the bubble of water. 

"What is it?" Kauru asked in a shrill voice. 

"Earthquake..." Nanami answered. Of course the two natives were the ones who had picked up on it even before the Demon God with her enhanced senses. Anybody who had lived in Japan all their lives knew the signs instinctively. Even here enveloped in this enchanted water bubble Nanami felt it in her bones. She became painfully aware of the millions of tons of rock quivering over her head. 

"It can't be-" Shayla was interrupted in mid-sentence again, this time by the ceiling crashing through the surface of the water and rushing down to squash them. 

Kauru screamed and threw her arm up, her ring glowing like a white-hot sun now. The water around them glowed with brilliant incandescence. It was not enough. They were being squeezed against the floor of the tunnel, the immense slab of rock inexorably flattening their little bubble of air. 

Streams of fire flared around Shayla, arcing between the crimson jewels in her headband, belt and leather wrist braces. Her arms shot up and blue-white spears of fire shot through the water and exploded against the rock. It shattered, huge pieces of it tumbling down around them. 

"Damn, who's doing this?" Shayla rasped, looking around as if expecting to see the enemy appear. 

"Nobody is doing this!" Nanami snapped. "It's an earthquake and it's not over yet!" She could still feel it, the waves of subsonic vibration washing through her. 

"Like hell. Somebody's using power again, it's way stronger this time." 

Nanami looked about in panic as more boulders broke the surface and tumbled down through the water all around them. Somebody was causing this? Oh God, what about the others? Another shock hit and she looked up into a roiling mass of white bubbles. The thing that had made them swept them aside just as quickly, not a great long slab this time but a sharp boulder coming down on them like a guillotine. Shayla's fire was barely sparked when the rock sliced through their little bubble of air. Its shimmering, distending surface pushed Nanami one way and her friends the other way. The sharp rock hit bottom between them, inches from Nanami's foot. Her half of the air pocket instantly collapsed into a million bubbles. This fact registered on Nanami's mind an instant after she took in a lung full of water. She flailed madly, any coherent thought blasted away by the simple fact that she could no longer breathe. Somehow her limbs were rocketing her to the surface. No, not her limbs. Stubby orange cat-legs furiously pumping. Her head broke the surface. She gagged and sputtered, unable to get anything past her flooded windpipe. 

Something else was choking her now. Two hands around her throat. It was too dark to see who. She lashed out blindly, connecting repeatedly with something. 

"CALM DOWN!" Ifurita's voice was deafening. Nanami was paralyzed. Then something horrible happened. There was something alive in her throat, something trying to slither out. It vomited out of her mouth and turned back into water. She threw back her head to scream... but suddenly her fear and revulsion just did not matter anymore. All that mattered was that she was sucking in one blessed lung full of air after another. The horrid wheezing sound was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. 

"Your lungs were full of water," the shadow in front of her said with Ifurita's voice. "I had to manipulate the water molecules, get them out." 

"Are you okay, Nanami?" Fujisawa's voice, nearby. 

"Got separated..." Nanami gasped. 

"We will find them," Ifurita said. She grabbed the staff floating nearby and its globes began to glow So did the water around them. Nanami felt it take on the rubbery consistency of the air pocket. She whimpered. 

"It's okay," Ifurita said gently, holding her tightly. "I'll protect you." The shimmering air pocket slipped below the surface, bearing the three of them down into the water. Nanami opened her eyes again. The floor of the tunnel was now littered with rubble. The water was murky now. The light of Ifurita's animated water cut through clouds of floating sand, throwing crazy lines of light and shadow all over. 

There was something else which had changed now. "It's over," Nanami breathed. 

"Yes, the tremors have stopped," Ifurita confirmed. 

"It wasn't tremors." 

"I know, I felt it too. Somebody caused this." 

"There they are!" Fujisawa said, pointing. Nanami looked. Another glowing bubble of air was rapidly approaching their own, two familiar figures held within it. But something was wrong. The bubble was too small, and seemed on the verge of collapsing. The smaller of the two figures within was clinging to the other for support. They came more sharply into focus as they approached. The two pockets of air met and merged. 

"Kauru!" Nanami released the tight grip she had on the Demon God and went to help Shayla lay the barely conscious girl down on the bottom of Ifurita's protective blanket of glowing water. The side of her shirt had been torn away. The exposed skin was bruised, swollen and burned in places. "God, what happened?" 

"I had to blast another rock point blank," Shayla said, her voice full of suppressed anger and remorse. "It backfired, she took the worst of it. Told her to break for the surface, but she wanted to look for you, thought you might have been buried. I don't know how she held out so long." 

"We've got trouble," Fujisawa said. Nanami followed his gaze and saw it immediately. 

Shayla cursed. "Just like that damned cage." It did indeed look just like the spikes that had grown into the columns that barred their path. Except now they were growing out of the walls all over the place. The sharp stone spikes were closing in on them from all sides, they were even breaking through the rubble that littered the floor of the tunnel. 

"We are leaving," Ifurita announced. Immediately, they started accelerating back up the tunnel. 

"I could blast those things!" Shayla said, her jewels already flaring to life. 

"Not quickly enough," Ifurita said flatly. "I know what this is, we cannot fight it, not here." 

"You know what this is?" Nanami asked. "Is it some weapon from El Hazard?" 

"In a manner of speaking. It is Erinyes." 

"She could do this?" Nanami looked all around them, but there were no more of the inexorably encroaching spikes. Whatever that was, they were rapidly leaving it behind. 

"I have never seen any such weapon. But judging by the level of power being used, it could only be a Demon God. It was she who detected our approach." 

"She must be out of her mind, causing an earthquake," Fujisawa said. "Don't they live in caves?" 

"It was very localized," Ifurita said. "This is a formidable weapon, especially for those dwelling deep in the earth. I have fought other Erinyes units before. They have a limited ability to integrate new attacks, I've seen them use a variety of weapons. But never anything like this." 

"The priestess of the earth." Shayla sounded like she was talking to herself. But now she saw she had everyone's attention. "Afura told me about it. One of those old books she reads said there used to be a fourth major school of the Great Priestesses. A priestess of the earth could control rock like we control fire, water and air. But even if they existed there haven't been any for centuries, not since before the Holy Wars at least." 

"Erinyes is at least nearly as old as I am," Ifurita said. "It could be that she was exposed to the technique, was able to integrate it." 

"So what now?" Shayla asked. "If we come back down here she'll just do the same. Even if we get into their caves she can just collapse it down on us or something. Maybe you'll just have to blast away at it from above." 

"I doubt even I could do that," Ifurita said. "My sonar pulse detected few caves above us but many far below. They are dug in even deeper than I had imagined, no doubt thanks to Erinyes' efforts. It would take all my power to blast away even a small part of the mountain protecting them. Erinyes has demonstrated she is willing to defend this place, she would no doubt take advantage of this fact and attack while I am vulnerable." 

"So what are we going to do?" Nanami asked, looking up at the Demon God. 

"Right now we should focus on getting to safety." She looked down at the priestess of water lying propped up between Shayla and Nanami. "Kauru, I can take us to where we entered the tunnel but from there I will need your help to traverse the course you opened for us. Will you be able to do that?" 

The girl smiled weakly and nodded. She was obviously in a lot of pain. "I can take over from that point," she said in a soft, strained voice. 

True to her word, Kauru fired up her lamp and took them from the underground river back up to the surface. She looked like she would be okay, right up to the point where she stepped towards the car and fell into Nanami's arms. 

Ifurita spoke to Makoto on the cellular phone, filling him in on the results of their mission. Nanami had to suppose it would have been worse being left behind than going along. Just like it had been agony for her to wait and worry over her friends when they had gone to rescue princess Fatora from her brother's fortress. But they had felt it wise to leave at least one 'native guide' to stay behind with Afura and Alielle. Makoto had little to report except that Miz was feeling a bit better. 

They dropped off Fujisawa and Kauru at the hospital, the former to visit his wife and child, the latter to receive treatment. Makoto met them and drove the rest of them back to the apartment. Afura was okay to keep watch some more and Alielle was having too much fun taking care of Ai and flirting with the nurses, so they stayed put. 

"I'm headed for the bath," Nanami said as soon as she had her shoes off. "If anyone else can't wait, by all means don't feel shy." 

"Thanks, but I'm going to collapse for a bit first," Shayla said, heading for one of the shared bedrooms. That left Makoto and Ifurita to be alone together for a bit, which Nanami guessed they would appreciate. Even though they would probably be talking about nothing more private than their next assault on the Phantom Tribe. Nanami just couldn't deal with that right now. She stripped out of her damp, grimy clothes, scrubbed her equally grimy self and sank gratefully down into the little tub. She tried to think of nothing except being enveloped in hot water. Normal water. 

She heard the door slide open and opened one eye in response. Ifurita smiled at her. "If it's not imposing I'd like to wash and change." 

"Sure. Come right in." She closed both eyes again, not to be unsociable but just because she really was that weary. Nanami had found from her experiences on El Hazard that one quick brush with death could leave you just as dragged out as a whole day of hard labor. 

"Are you feeling a little better?" Ifurita asked. Nanami could hear the soft rustling of her folding her clothes. 

"I think I will be, after a good sleep." 

There was a slight pause before Ifurita spoke again. "I was wondering whether you were still bothered by what happened." 

Nanami didn't need to ask what Ifurita was referring to. It certainly wasn't what she wanted to talk about right now. But Ifurita was just trying to help, she didn't want to be rude. "Yeah, seeing a little boy nearly cut in half with a knife bothered me just a bit." She shivered, realizing how that sounded. "Sorry, I didn't mean..." She just groaned. "Oh hell." 

"You will not feel this way forever," Ifurita said mildly. Nanami heard the rush and gurgling of water as Ifurita filled the little plastic pail from the tap. "The memory will linger, but the pain will fade." 

"You speak from experience?" Nanami had managed to get some of the bitterness out of her voice. 

"Yes. Both my own and what I saw in others so long ago. Eventually the boy's face will settle into your mind as a reminder what happens when we wage war. It would be a blessing if all people had such reminders, don't you think?" 

Nanami made an amused grunt. "That just makes too much sense, Ifurita. Except there are people who really don't care. Like those Phantom Tribe bastards who put knives in their own kids' hands." 

"Sadly, that is true." 

Nanami just listened to the Demon God scrubbing and rinsing herself for a moment, while she worked up the courage to ask the question. "Ifurita... do you think I've been taking this out on Shayla?" 

"No, you have not," Ifurita said flatly. "She fully understands how you feel." 

"I sure hope I haven't," Nanami said. She debated the wisdom of continuing, but she wanted so much to get it off her chest. "I mean, at the time she was so calm about it. I hope it didn't show but I was furious with her. I really thought she has no feelings at all." 

"She is bothered by what happened as much as you are, of that I am sure." 

Ifurita wouldn't say that if she were not sure. For better or worse, little white lies were not one of the social graces she had picked up, or maybe had chosen not to pick up. In fact Shayla had been more belligerent than normal lately, a sure sign that something was bothering her. And the Demon God had her own ways of judging people's state of mind, which was probably why she was here offering words of comfort. Nanami moved up against the side of the deep tub facing Ifurita and lay her arms down across the rim. "I hadn't really thought about it before, but I should be grateful she's even here. This isn't her fight or even her world, she doesn't need to be here. Neither do Afura or Kauru." 

Ifurita just glanced at her and smiled, then went back to washing herself. "They are fighting not for this world but for their loved ones, you and Makoto and Fujisawa. It is the reason I helped save El Hazard, for Makoto and his loved ones who are now mine." She sent another quick sidelong glance Nanami's way, smiling shyly. "Of course all life is precious, but it is hard to love an entire world. Fighting to protect family is the best of reasons, I think." 

"Family..." Nanami said wistfully. "I guess that's what it's all about. You know I'm sorry I wasn't there when you brought Ai back to Fujisawa Sensei. That must have been really something." 

Ifurita's expression spoke of thoughts that were as private as they were cherished. "It was... something I will never forget," she said softly. In another moment it was gone and Ifurita met her eyes again. "I haven't asked, how are your parents taking all this?" 

"Okay, I guess. They did take my advice and move into that apartment with Makoto's folks, thank God." 

"That's good. I doubt the enemy will attempt to take hostages again. But your peace of mind is reason enough to take the precaution. Are they worried about you?" 

Nanami hesitated before answering. "Of course they knew about what happened to Miz. But Mako-chan and I, we still haven't told them about..." haven't told them that we're trying to prevent aliens from destroying the world in a few days. 

"I see. Perhaps that is best." She seemed to spend a second debating whether to continue. "Makoto and I have been discussing contingencies. In the worst case, we will try to bring as many people as possible through the wormhole. We have no idea how much time we would have, but we might be able to save hundreds, maybe thousands." 

"That's not an option," Nanami snapped. 

Ifurita looked hurt. "Of course, I will do everything I can to make sure it doesn't come to that." 

Damn, there I go again. Ifurita looked like she was making ready to leave. Nanami got up out of the tub. "Stay put, I'll do your back." 

"Oh... thank you," Ifurita said hesitantly. 

Nanami's gaze went down to the plug at the small of the Demon God's back. So, she's still a little self-conscious about that. "Hey, relax," Nanami said pleasantly. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, right?" Ifurita looked surprised. Nanami bent over and lightly patted her back. "You're not the only one who can read body language, you know." 

"I'm sorry, I know I'm being foolish." 

"Well, if it makes you feel better I've got a little mole too. Want to see it?" 

Ifurita blushed. "I don't imagine yours is made from diamondoid-reinforced plastisteel," she said by way of avoiding the question. 

"No, but it's in a way more embarrassing place." She told her. 

Ifurita's blush deepened. "Oh... no wonder I have never seen it." 

Nanami giggled. "Embarrassing Caucasians is such fun, it's like watching litmus paper turn color." 

Ifurita smiled dangerously. "I think perhaps I shall describe your mole to Makoto." 

Nanami bent down close to her face, returned her grin and did what was probably the most dangerous thing she had ever done in her life. "Who says he doesn't already know about it?" She didn't wait to see how long the expression of wide-eyed shock lasted, she just kicked the other plastic stool over behind Ifurita, sat down and picked up the soap. Ifurita had already tied up her hair, making Nanami's job easier. 

She was already scrubbing Ifurita's back when she spoke again. "Nanami-" 

"Joke, Ifurita. It was a joke." 

"I knew that." 

"Is that why your jaw hit the floor?" 

"I was surprised that you would make such a joke." 

"Surely you've been hanging around with us girls long enough to realize there is no topic too embarrassing, at least when there are no poor, sensitive males about." 

Ifurita spoke a bit more hesitantly now. "I just thought it would - I'm not sure if this is the right expression - would hit too close to home." 

Nanami almost regretted the impulsive jest now. "Yes, that's the right expression. Anyway, you've seen all his memories so you must know he and I were never really an item." 

"I know that many of the places he took me in our memories were places he dreamt of taking you." 

Nanami chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I knew he had a crush on me back then. But I had other irons in the fire. Hey, don't tell me you're worried I'm going to steal him from you. Trust me, that's not going to happen." 

"Actually, I was more concerned about it being the other way around." 

"Oh..." The playfulness was out of her voice now. "I suppose Makoto told you how I reacted, when I found out he had feelings for you." 

"I have a good idea what happened." 

Nanami finished off her work with a bucket of water poured down Ifurita's back. "Look, the fact is I didn't know you back then. I was worried about Makoto. I thought he'd fallen in love with somebody who couldn't return his feelings. I thought you'd end up hurting him, one way or another. I was wrong. You're the best thing that ever happened to him." 

Ifurita turned about on her stool and regarded Nanami intently. "You really believe that?" 

"Of course. We all believe that. I guess it's because we trust you. I'd trust you with my life or Makoto's more than I would anybody else." 

Ifurita looked puzzled. "I'm happy that my powers allow me-" 

"No, no, that's not it." Nanami sighed. She still wasn't getting it. "Ifurita, I don't trust you to look after Makoto because you're a Demon God, I trust you because I know you. You're the most honest, faithful friend I've ever had. Why do you think everyone is looking to you to lead us against the Phantom Tribe? Yes, I know there are all sorts of practical reasons, you've got centuries of combat experience and all that. But people don't trust weapons, at least not people with any sense. They only give that sort of trust to people who have earned it." 

She still looked troubled. "Then you do not regret that Makoto... found me?" 

Nanami spread her hands out as if in offering. "Ifurita... I know what you're asking but how can I answer? Maybe if I'd let Makoto be my boyfriend back then it would have turned out differently. Maybe now I'd be his wife and you'd be his best friend. But I don't know that, so there's nothing to regret." 

After a moment, Ifurita's lips slowly spread into a fond smile. "We are very lucky to have you with us, Nanami." 

Nanami squirmed a little under her intent gaze. But Ifurita's heartfelt words cheered her up considerably. "Damn straight you are. I'd hate to think where you two would be if I wasn't looking out for you." She stood up. All this serious talk had just made her even more beat. She reached for a towel. "But you'll have to do without me for a few hours now, I'm bushed." 

"Would you like me to do your back as well?" 

"No thanks, not after I've already soaked. Speaking of which, why don't you take a dip? I know your muscles don't get tired but I bet a good soak would help you relax and clear your mind." Ifurita's face inexplicably fell. Nanami frowned, genuinely worried. "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" 

"No, not at all. It's just that I said that same thing to another... a very long time ago." 

The Demon God did not move or lose her sad, pensive expression while Nanami set the towel aside and slipped into a yukata. "You mean Erinyes," she said softly. 

"Yes." 

Nanami had heard more than once the story of how Ifurita had freed Erinyes from her keylock and how they had become friends. And she had heard enough about Ifurita's latest encounter with her to figure out why it would be so upsetting. There didn't seem to be much Nanami could say that would be comforting. But she fished for something anyway. "I can't even imagine, somebody living that long, going to all those places. She must be a different person now." 

"She has changed. I could sense how full of bitterness she is now. But it is still her, still the Erinyes I knew for that brief time." Still my sister, she said without saying. 

"She gave Ai back to us," Nanami said. "Maybe she's having doubts about what she's doing." 

"That was a tactical move," Ifurita said flatly but not coldly. "I feel sure that she came to care for human life at some point. But she no longer does." 

"But why is she helping the Phantom Tribe?" 

Nanami regretted asking the question immediately, it sounded too much like an accusation, against somebody Ifurita obviously still cared about. But Ifurita answered calmly. "She gave me reasons that made no sense, claimed there were things she understood that I could not. Something happened to her on their homeworld." She seemed to finally notice the trepidation on Nanami's face. "None of you need worry. If I must destroy her to save this world then I will do so." 

"I know. That's what worries me." 

Ifurita's sad, grateful smile tugged at Nanami's heart. The albino woman rose and stepped over to the tub. "I think perhaps I shall take your advice." 

Nanami was glad for what small comfort she was able to offer her dear friend. She walked quietly into the bedroom, noting that Shayla had drawn the curtains already. After laying a quilt over the snoring priestess' sprawled form Nanami set out her own futon nearby. Not even thoughts of the battle she knew must be coming could hold off sleep for long. 

___****___ 

The abruptness with which Galus had set the final phase of the Plan in motion was throwing the whole nest into an unbearable frenzy. His chosen command center was right in the middle of it. It was a sprawling office that occupied the entire second floor of a sumptuous mountain cabin... the one which had not been booby trapped and abandoned. The view of the valley through the great, tall glazed end of the steeple roof went unappreciated. He was focused on the constant stream of calls from his scattered operatives, the clutch of assistants at his shoulder, the frantic engineers running out here from the nest far below. All clamoring for his attention, all trying to tell him about things that could not possibly be done on time. Some of them were even telling the truth. But enough of them were lying. Enough of them were coming back saying yes, by the Great Movers yes the Master had been right, it could be done and it had been done. Enough of the pieces were being put in place to make it work. Things were going well enough that he was only slightly irritated when Erinyes entered the office unannounced. His servants all backed a respectful distance from the only individual who had leave to interrupt the Master's work in this way. 

"Leave us." The others filed quietly down the open staircase to wait in the rooms below. He stabbed a button on his telephone, directing calls to his lieutenants below. Galus cleared the room on such occasions not so much to preserve the secrecy of what might be said but to acknowledge the woman's right to private audience. Such niceties were probably lost on the strange Demon God, but there were others who needed to be reminded of the importance of their ally. 

"What news, Erinyes?" The two of them had long since dispensed with any formalities, the terms of their relationship were agreeable and well understood for both of them. 

"The Rostalians attempted to enter the nest by way of the river. It was the fire priestess and the water priestess at the very least, from the power signatures. There were probably others. I was able to drive them away with nothing more than the Earth Power." 

"So, it would appear Ifurita was unable to convince them to leave." 

"She may very well be leading them. Either way, I misjudged their attachment to this world." 

Galus shrugged. "Ah well, it just means we were both wrong. No matter, it is all the more fortunate I decided to push the schedule forward." 

"I have been monitoring the preparations below," Erinyes said. "I have concerns. Because so few of the nodes are ready, they are increasing the yields. This is necessary to ensure the chain reaction, but it makes the results far less predictable." 

"Do you doubt that it will be enough to rid this world of the humans?" 

"Quite the contrary. The surface could become uninhabitable even for you." As always she spoke without recrimination or reproach, she simply reported facts. Above all else Galus admired this, admired her purity. 

"Will it be beyond our ability to correct later?" 

"No. But you may be facing many more years confined to the nest." 

Galus leaned back in his chair and smiled. "We have lived in the shadows of the human world for hundreds of generations, Erinyes. A few more years under the surface of this one will be as nothing. And an even greater cleansing may save work for future generations. We are building a world whose beauty will last as long as this sun shines. To those who come after us, this brief episode with the humans will be a trivial matter best forgotten." 

"It is as you say. Nevertheless, at best we are two days from being able to trigger the chain reaction. The Rostalians have obviously guessed the importance of this place. I have little doubt they will be back again within that time. It is likely I shall have at least one more battle before I can retire to my hibernation capsule." 

Galus raised an eyebrow. It had been a long while since they had spoken of that. "Even now, when the day of transformation approaches, you have not changed your mind about that?" 

"No. I have told you all I know of the homeworld, all it is within my power to describe. Even after your long absence you understand it better than I ever could, it is in your blood. I have no doubt that you shall one day turn this planet into the home world's younger sibling. That is enough for me. I am content to become its silent guardian. Let it be written upon the face of your new world that I am here to defend it. Those to come will know they can awaken me should any of the humans' many cousins ever threaten it again." 

Galus gazed silently into the eyes of the remarkable creature before him. The glowing red sensor which replaced her right eye was a constant reminder of just what she was. But those eyes had seen the homeworld, so they were blessed in a way he could not imagine. He envied her that. Yet still, he wanted these eyes which had gazed into his to see the wonders to come on this new world he was creating. He wanted a link with that future. "Erinyes, one day those who come after us will become one with this world, and we shall once again call ourselves the Eyes of the World. May it also be written upon the face of the world that on that blessed day you shall be woken and given honor?" 

Erinyes graced him with a rare smile. She inclined her head forward and shut her eyes for a moment, her ever neutral expression looking almost serene now. "It shall please me to look upon the homeworld's brother for a day, and then to return to my place where I may sleep at its side." 

"So let it be written." 

Her familiar look of cold purpose returned. "If there is no further business I shall return to the nest and await the humans' next attack." 

"It may never come. Our operatives will soon be giving them some other things to worry about. By the time they can direct their attention to us again, it will be too late." 

Erinyes raised a crooked eyebrow. "Indeed? Then when next we speak the transformation shall be underway." 

Galus nodded. "Good-bye until then, Erinyes." 

"Good-bye, Galus." 

He watched her descend the stairs. As expected, Nahato dropped his cloak the minute she was away. Galus sighed. "You do her dishonor, Nahato." 

The boy bowed low. "The Demon God knows well that I watch for threats from others, not from her." 

"Does her presence among us disturb you so, little one?" 

"You have informed me that she can be trusted, Galus-sama. Your word is law." 

Which was about as close to an honest answer as he was going to get. "She has seen the homeworld, little one. We can only imagine the wonders to come, but she knows what this world will become one day. I have seen it in her eyes. She is as dedicated to that future as we are." 

"As you say, Galus-sama." He cloaked himself again just on time for Galus' anxious assistants to come scurrying back into the room. There were still a thousand details to attend to. He would not leave those details in the hands of timid engineers as he had the last time. With his own two hands would he bring about the holy transformation and rid this world of the humans for good. 

___****___ 

Ifurita stared down the large man blocking her path, her cold eyes taking in those craggy features she had become very familiar with all those months ago. "What exactly is the meaning of this, Chief Inspector?" 

As she more or less expected, he was not at all intimidated by her manner. "I thought I was clear. You are being brought in for questioning in regard to the matter of the Fujisawa child's kidnapping." 

"What?" Nanami forged ahead before Ifurita or Makoto could even get a word in. "In case you haven't been keeping up with current events let me bring you up to date Chief Inspector. Ai-chan is lying in her mother's arms just three doors down this corridor. If you don't believe me you can come and see yourself, that's where we're headed anyway." 

"I am fully aware of the situation," he continued mildly. "Though I confess I did not find out until one of my subordinates happened to speak with one of the nurses who have been caring for Mrs. Fujisawa." 

"Well we were a little involved making sure Ai-chan was okay," Nanami said, not sparing the sarcasm. "Calling you was not on the top of our list." 

"Fair enough. I am delighted that the child has been returned safely. Nevertheless, the fact remains that she was kidnapped and her mother assaulted. We are still investigating these matters and we need whatever information Ifurita-san can provide." 

"The Fujisawas and I have already told you everything we know about the assault and kidnapping," Ifurita said in the same emotionless voice. "As for the child's return, I explained this to your subordinate. I was searching for the kidnappers' lair when my counterpart among them contacted me and voluntarily surrendered the child to me." 

The Chief Inspector's heavily lined face darkened. "You apparently told the officer that you were flying over a mountain somewhere when this happened." 

"Correct." 

He took a step closer to the Demon God and glared down at her, all pretense of mannered politeness gone. "Let me explain a few things to you, Ifurita. Last year you came into this country with some people who had been missing for two years and told us a pack of well-rehearsed lies. You got away with it because there was no direct evidence of a crime and the family of the man who remains missing chose to accept your pack of lies. This time a woman was nearly stabbed to death, an unidentifiable man lies in our morgue and a child was forcibly removed from her home. This time your pack of lies is not going to stand, Ifurita. We are going to take you downtown and you are going to sit in a little room with me and some other grumpy men and you are going to sit in that little room until I am convinced that you are telling me the truth. And before you ask, the only thing I am accusing you of right now is lying. That is serious enough for a potential witness to a crime of this sort. If you do decide to put aside this juvenile fantasy you've concocted and come forth with the truth I might consider waiving charges of obstructing justice." 

"Chief Inspector." Makoto's voice had the measured, diplomatic tone he excelled at. There was just enough hint of nervousness to suggest he was trying to be accommodating, but not enough to suggest he was trying to lie. Ifurita felt real pride, knowing by her other senses just how anxious he was and how hard it was to hide that. "I understand we're asking you to believe some rather incredible things. But we are telling you the truth as best we understand it." 

"I've heard that line before, Mizuhara. Sorry, but that's not going to cut it this time. Your wife is coming in for questioning." 

Makoto took just a moment to compose himself. "Sir, this is a very difficult time for us. For fear of these kidnappers we are essentially living in hiding. My wife would like to visit her goddaughter and go home. Isn't it possible she could answer your questions at a later time?" 

"Well that would be fine if we knew where you were living, but since you have chosen not to tell us that I have to take the opportunity to speak with my witness before she disappears again." 

Fishing for sympathy was Makoto's last card and Ifurita could see that it wasn't going to work. "Very well. I will accompany you." 

Nanami looked about to object, but Makoto waved her down. "I want to go as well. I can drive her there." 

"Thanks, but she'll be riding with us. If you wish to wait for her at the station I imagine you must remember where it is." 

Makoto was openly glaring at the officer now. "Then would you at least consent to letting me accompany my wife there?" 

"It's all right, Makoto," Ifurita interjected quickly. "I'm okay going by myself. I'll see you when the Chief Inspector is done with me." 

Makoto frowned. "Ifurita, you're sure about this?" 

"Yes." They both nodded. Ifurita knew they both understood what would be happening. And that she would keep her promise to him. "Please send my apologies to Miz before you leave. Inspector, if you would lead the way." 

They met with a uniformed policeman at the door and proceeded to the car. "We can store that in the trunk," the Chief Inspector said, indicating the staff. 

"This staff has spiritual significance for me. It is to be with me at all times." 

He snorted. "Funny, I don't remember seeing it when we had those nice long chats last year. Did you have a change of religion?" 

"If you like." She knew perfectly well that his hostility was calculated. Presumption of guilt seemed to be the common thread running through constabularies on all planets. This was all working up to uncovering her complicity in the crimes being investigated, this complicity being their working assumption. 

They drove to the station in silence. Ifurita spent the time communing with the Voices, reviewing alternatives for their next assault upon the Phantom Tribe's lair. Today in Miz' room they were to have discussed how they would proceed. The delay was annoying, but Ifurita already had a fairly good idea what she wanted to do. There was also benefit in giving Kauru more time to recover before taking her into combat again. 

At the station they went through the formalities. "I have no desire to have an attorney present," Ifurita said in response. "But I do have a special request." 

"And what is that?" the Chief Inspector asked impatiently. 

"The last time I was interrogated here I was observed by two individuals who were behind a glass, not readily visible to me." She would leave it up to them to guess how she knew that. "I find such observation offensive. If you insist upon observers I want them to be in the room. If you consent to this, I will give you my full cooperation." 

"I've got no problem with that. Shimada, you're with me." 

It was a different room this time, Ifurita noted, one without the one-way glass. The officer Shimada stood at parade rest in one corner while Ifurita and the Chief Inspector sat on simple chairs across a simple table. Ifurita laid her staff on the table but kept her hand upon it. "Chief Inspector, before we begin, may I make a brief statement?" 

"Have you any objection to our recording the proceedings?" 

"None." 

The Inspector jabbed the record button on a tape recorder sitting on one side of the table. He recited the required legalese then leaned back in his chair. "Go ahead." 

"You brought me here to tell you the truth. In fact I have already done that. Every statement I have made to you and your subordinates was true. Since you will obviously not take my word for that, my only recourse is to prove it to you." 

"And how do you propose doing that?" the Chief Inspector said, taking advantage of Ifurita's deliberate pause. 

"Like this." The staff flared to life. The two officers jumped into identical defensive stances. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The Chief Inspector started the sentence on Earth and ended it in El Hazard. 

Ifurita, the two Earthlings, the table and the chairs were now in the middle of the suite she shared with Makoto in the palace of Floristica. One of the servant girls who were assigned to watch the room at all times walked over from the door and bowed to Ifurita. They were well used to Ifurita and Makoto gating people in here, so she showed no surprise. "Good evening, Lady Ifurita. How may I serve?" 

"We won't be staying long," Ifurita informed her. "When we are gone, you may report to Princess Rune. No message, except that everybody is well and we continue our operations against the Phantom Tribe." 

"I understand. Shall I bring refreshments for you and your guests?" 

Ifurita turned to the Chief Inspector. "Would you like something to drink?" There was no reply. "No, we won't be requiring anything." 

"Very good, my lady." The girl bowed again and moved over to the side of the room where several cushions lay. Ifurita knew she would bring a cushion for the second officer without being asked. Which was good. His legs were shaking very badly, they might not hold out much longer. 

Ifurita resisted the temptation to put the tip of her staff under the Chief Inspector's chin and close his mouth. However much she was enjoying this, she was not here for fun. "Chief Inspector, why don't you sit down again and I will continue my statement." After a few moments he sat down very slowly and gingerly, as if unsure whether the chair behind him was still real. By this time the girl had placed a wide cushion on the marble floor beside his companion. With a smile and a gesture she encouraged him to sit. It took a nod of approval from Ifurita before he would actually do it. "I assume I have proven the existence of El Hazard to your satisfaction," Ifurita continued. "I have described to you in the past the criminal activities of the Phantom Tribe on El Hazard. They are now extending those same activities to Earth. The attack upon Miz and her child was an attempt to extort our silence, to keep their activities upon the Earth a secret. Further attacks are likely, which is why we have gone into hiding. You should bear in mind that I put myself and my friends at risk simply by telling you these things. The Phantom Tribe could be anywhere, could be anyone. I therefore will not be offering any information on the recent past or likely future whereabouts and movements of myself or my friends. In all other matters I will be happy to provide whatever information I am able. That concludes my statement, Chief Inspector. Were there any questions you wished to ask?" 

His heartbeat was almost back to normal. Ifurita had actually been worried for a moment. Judging from his weight and anxiety level he was probably what she had heard referred to as a heart attack waiting to happen. He spent another minute staring out the archways that opened onto the room's wide balcony. Outside the Eye of God was visible in the evening sky, as was a merchant cutter slowly coming in for a landing in the palace shipyard. He shook his head and directed his attention back at her. "Ifurita... where on Earth are we?" 

"We are not on Earth. We are in my apartment in the royal palace of Floristica, on the planet of El Hazard." 

The inspector dug a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and mopped his glistening face. "Can you take us back?" 

"If that is what you wish." 

He nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, that is definitely what I wish." 

"Very well." Ifurita took hold of the glowing staff, which still had the wormhole snared. A moment later they were back in the interrogation room. The two officers did not look quite so stricken as they had the first time. The room was exactly as they had left it, save for the fact that the other officer was now seated upon an elaborately embroidered cushion. 

The Chief Inspector took a moment to catch his breath again before speaking. "So, then you really are an... that is, you really are the Demon God, right?" 

"That is correct. With the possible exception of the Eye of God I am the most terrible weapon ever built on El Hazard. I have destroyed entire nations at the whim of my former masters. I could reduce this city to ashes if I chose to. " Pause. "I choose not to. I promised Makoto that I would never resort to violence except in defense. And to abide by the laws of this country while I am here. That is why I have allowed you to bring me into custody when I really should be planning my next attack against the Phantom Tribe." 

He frowned. "Have you been fighting them in Yamanashi prefecture by any chance?" The transformation was remarkable and impressive. Minutes after having his whole world turned upside down he was already thinking like a policeman again. 

"If you are referring to the two tribesmen your counterparts in Yamanashi prefecture found dead in the house of Honda Tetsuro, I can tell you exactly what happened there." 

It took over an hour. He questioned her thoroughly along the way, which further impressed Ifurita. His queries led to a discussion of their ill-fated trip to the Kabuki theater, what Nanami found there and what Ifurita uncovered in her own investigations. When he excused himself and told her to wait it was with considerably more of the solemn politeness that he could switch on and off so effectively. She imagined he must have gone to indulge in a cigarette or something else to calm his nerves. His poor subordinate looked as if he had been left alone with a hungry lion. They waited in silence. 

___****___ 

"Damn, this is taking forever," Nanami said, not for the first time. Makoto didn't even respond. But she could see that he was getting worried now too. He had kept trying to tell her that once Ifurita did what he said she was going to do, it would be all over. If they had any sense at all they would be more than happy to get the Demon God out of here. But Makoto's repeated polite inquiries were being met with equally polite assurances that his wife was still being questioned. Which left them cooling their heels out here in this ugly reception hall. 

"Well there's one thing for sure, if she really does it then our cover is blown for good," Nanami commented. 

"Maybe not. They wouldn't be the first of the true believers. Besides our folks there's Hayashi, Professor Fedorov..." 

Nanami groaned. "Professor Fedorov. Weren't you two supposed to have dinner with him yesterday?" 

"He left a message, I never got around to returning it." 

"God, he has no idea what's going on. None of our friends here do." 

"I know," Makoto said, looking even more anxious now. "I don't think I could bring myself to tell any of them something like this." 

"Well, that's what Ifurita is probably doing right now. I wonder how they're taking it?" 

"I think we're about to find out." Nanami followed Makoto's gaze and saw the Chief Inspector approaching. He seemed calm enough. But one look at those haunted eyes told the story. Ifurita had done it. 

"Nanami-san, Makoto-san," he greeted them. All his earlier hostility was gone. "I wonder if I might have a word with you in my office." 

"Of course," Makoto said quickly, giving Nanami a look that asked her not to make any trouble. 

She ignored him. "So where's Ifurita? Are you letting her go?" 

"That's what I'd like to discuss." She wasn't quite sure what to make of this. He looked really spooked. That insufferable mask of calm efficiency, propriety and procedure was gone. It was like seeing the man for the first time. 

He ushered them into a small office enclosed in smoked glass and they all sat down on the only three chairs available. "Mind if I smoke?" he asked. They both gave their assent and he lit up. He took a big long drag from the cigarette as if he really needed it, set it down and blew smoke high in the air. Finally his gaze was directed at Makoto. "That's a really nice place you've got there in Floristica." 

"So Ifurita took you there." 

"Yeah. We even saw that thing that brought her here... the Eye of God, right?" 

"Right." 

The Inspector took a deep breath and blew it out his cheeks. "That was quite a number you did on us last year. There's no cover story quite so good as the truth." 

"I'm sorry about that," Makoto said anxiously. "It was the only way I thought we could actually live in peace here." 

"I know. Your wife... ah, she is really your wife, isn't she?" 

Makoto couldn't keep the smile from his face "Yes, she is." 

There was something like awe in his face, like he was imagining how much nerve a man would need to be married to a cyborg doomsday weapon. "Anyway, your wife told me all about why you had to play that little game." 

"Did she tell you about what the Phantom Tribe are doing here?" Nanami asked. 

The haunted look came back. "Yeah, she told me all about that. Rattled off a list of names the length of your arm. A really scary list of names. Said you even identified the one who was posing as Honda Tetsuro. You're the one who can do that as I recall." 

Nanami eyed him suspiciously. "Are you saying you believe that?" 

"I don't have much choice but to believe it. But the problem is, I'm not going to be able to convince anybody else." 

Nanami sensed trouble. "Why is that a problem?" 

His craggy face now looked positively grim. "I just finished talking to the Superintendent. He's not going to back down on this. He's ordered me to hold her." 

Nanami was just getting ready to rail on him when a sudden revelation popped her balloon. "You had to tell him what Ifurita told you..." 

"Needless to say I couldn't even suggest that I believed any of this. What I'm supposed to be doing right now is arranging to have Ifurita put in a holding cell on charges of obstructing justice. I shouldn't even be talking to you about it. But she's as much as said that this Phantom Tribe is going to be up to something big really soon and she needs to go deal with it. So I need you to tell me something. If I place her under arrest is she going to throw me through a wall along with anyone else who tries to keep her from walking out of here?" 

"No," Makoto said flatly. "She will not harm anyone unless she is attacked." 

"Then we've got a problem." 

That was when Nanami figured it out. "You want to let her go!" 

He grunted. "I really don't think I'm in a position to let her go. I would simply like to arrange for her to leave here without anyone getting hurt." 

"Well that's simple," Nanami said. "Go tell her we all agreed she should vanish out of here. She can gate to El Hazard and then back to our apartment. Tell your boss whatever story you want." 

"No." She turned and glared at Makoto, wondering if he had lost his mind. "Running would be like admitting she's done something wrong." 

"Makoto, we don't have time for this! If Ifurita doesn't help us stop the Phantom Tribe then none of this is going to matter!" 

"You're right, we don't have time for this," Makoto said. "We need a quick way to convince the Superintendent that she's telling the truth." 

"But how... oh." 

The Inspector sighed heavily. "I was afraid you were going to suggest that. The Super is being really anal on this one. If I go up there with a prisoner who's supposed to be in a cell he'll go ballistic. She'd be better off just disappearing like Nanami suggested." 

"If you get me her staff I can go see the Superintendent myself." 

The Inspector really did look surprised to hear that one. "Well, I'll be damned. Okay, that sounds like a plan. But you two should go see him yourselves. He shouldn't even know we've been talking." He butted out his cigarette and stood up. "Oh, and you'd better come with me to the interview room. I don't imagine she'll give me her key to heaven's door just because I ask for it." 

Makoto cocked his head. "Her what?" 

"Never mind." 

Nanami followed them as far as the hallway in front of the interview rooms, where she decided to wait. Makoto emerged from the room alone carrying the staff. She followed him, presuming the Inspector had told him where to go. "How is she?" 

"Rather annoyed." 

"Well I'm annoyed too. I still say she should have just gated out of here." 

"Nanami, if we do that then there will be a manhunt for her," he explained patiently as they walked. "Yes we can easily avoid it long enough to deal with the Phantom Tribe. But what happens after that? There would be too much explaining to do. She would never be able to live here again, and neither would the rest of us. Is that what you want?" 

She hated it when he was right. "Fine, let's get this over with." 

Makoto explained to the Superintendent's receptionist that he would like to see him regarding concerns he had about his wife's arrest. The young woman was too polite or too puzzled to comment on the great huge walking stick he made a point of leaning against as if it really were his cane. She disappeared into her boss' office, and emerged a moment later to tell them he would buzz her when he was ready to see them. 

Ninety minutes later Nanami was ready to start crawling up the walls. "This is ridiculous," she murmured to Makoto. "We're trying to save the world and we're held up by police bureaucracy." 

"Well, if worse comes to worst we can catch him when he quits for the day," Makoto whispered in return. 

"What, were you thinking of taking his secretary to El Hazard too?" 

He smiled. "From the look of the officer who was guarding Ifurita, the Chief Inspector wasn't the only one who went along for the ride." 

"Well, these guys probably work late, we could be here for hours." 

"You have a better idea?" 

"Yeah." Without further ado, Nanami got up and casually walked across the room. She was already opening the door when the receptionist noticed. "Hey, you can't go in there!" Nanami marched straight into the Superintendent's office and stood there. His very miffed receptionist had already run in. "I'm sorry sir, she just barged in." 

The Superintended just raised an eyebrow, showing no other reaction. "Indeed?" he said pleasantly. "Well, if this young lady is so anxious to see me then perhaps I'd better hear what she has to say. Thank you, just close the door please." 

The now very puzzled receptionist did as she was told. The blue-skinned man behind the desk grinned. "I have to imagine that by now you are thinking, 'I should have known.'" 

Which was right on the mark. Of course Makoto hadn't followed her in here, he was about as impulsive as an old dog. Right now he would undoubtedly be profusely apologizing on her behalf to the receptionist. Nanami simply made up her mind that she was not going to panic. "I would have expected you people to think a lowly police superintendent was beneath your station. From what we've seen you only like slaughtering the rich and famous." 

The bald tribesman, looking very much out of place in his tailored suit, did not lose his mild, calm expression. "We do not discriminate. 'They also serve,' and all that." 

"Fine, then I'll tell you the same thing I came here to tell the man you killed. Let Ifurita go." 

"Oh no, I would much rather she leave of her own accord. That way I can order a manhunt for her and anybody who might be harboring this fugitive from the law. That would be much more amusing." 

"Who do you think you're kidding? I've found you out. I assume you heard what happened to Honda's double?" 

"I'm sorry, did I give you the impression that you would be leaving this room alive?" 

She absolutely would not panic. "Makoto is just outside that door with Ifurita's staff, maybe I should call him in here. If you're lucky he'll just teleport you to the center of the earth and introduce you to some molten iron." She had no idea whether he could do that but it sure sounded good. 

"My friend may have something to say about that." 

She fought the urge to look around for hidden assassins. There may very well be another one of them hidden nearby, as he implied. But she couldn't back down now. "If you do anything to Makoto, Ifurita will sense it. She'd be here in two seconds flat and I wouldn't want to watch whatever she does to you." 

"You propose to trade Mizuhara's death for mine? Are you willing to do that?" 

No, she wasn't. She debated just turning to scream a warning. But that might force his hand. He hadn't just had her escorted out, which might mean he didn't want to make that trade either. "Okay, here's the deal. You release Ifurita and I don't tell them about you until we're away from here. That's the only way you're getting out of here alive and you know it." There was no point saying she wouldn't blow his cover at all, he'd never believe it. 

"And why should I trust you?" 

"Because I'd rather not have to try and explain why Ifurita turned a police superintendent into a greasy stain on the wall." 

He actually laughed. "Well, if you'll pardon me for a moment." He picked up his phone and tapped a number. It took about three minutes talking to two different people. Then he hung up and smiled pleasantly at Nanami. "I doubt I shall have time to do the paperwork to make the release official, but I trust that won't matter. Just remember, not even you have eyes on the back of your head. If you decide to double-cross me before you leave, my friends will ensure that you and your friend pay the price." 

"Fine, just make sure your people back off." 

"It was a pleasure and an honor doing business with the sister of Jinnai the Conqueror." 

Nanami really didn't care whether it had been an insult. She just turned around and walked out the door. Makoto stood up as she approached, looking like he was getting ready to give her a good dressing down. She flashed her best smile and gave him thumbs-up. "It's all taken care of. We'll just go pick up Ifurita and we're out of here." 

"Are you serious? What did you tell him?" 

"We'll talk about that later." 

She kept her word, and so did the superintendent's double. Eventually Makoto started getting suspicious and she told them. He was too busy cursing himself for an idiot to be really mad at her. Ifurita simply thanked Nanami for handling the situation and left it at that. They soon had other things to discuss. 

___****___ 

Makoto watched as Miz settled into the wheelchair with her husband's assistance. It was obvious that even this simple action was giving her a fair amount of pain, however much she tried to hide it. Her first time getting out of bed had only been yesterday, after all. He stepped up to her, making no attempt to hide his concern. "Miz, are you really sure you're up to this?" 

She smiled up at him. "I do wish you would stop fussing, you're making me feel like a frail old obasan. It's decided, we're going." 

"Okay. Fujisawa-san, are you ready?" 

He easily hoisted the two huge, overstuffed knapsacks. "When you are," he said, his trademark crooked smile back for the first time in what seemed like ages. 

Ifurita walked over to Makoto and handed him her staff. "You're sure you can find it?" 

"I did the bungee cord maneuver yesterday, I zeroed in on it no problem. Ifurita, are you sure you don't want to come?" 

She smiled. "It is best if only people she recognizes go with you." 

He chuckled. "I think she'd have no problem recognizing you." 

"True enough. Still, I think it's best this way. I would prefer to meet her under better circumstances." 

He took her hand and squeezed it. "Sure, I understand. Alielle, I guess it's that time." 

"Okie dokie." The little purple-haired Rostalian handed her burden over to Miz. "There you go, freshly cleaned and fed." 

Miz settled Ai onto her lap and smiled fondly at Alielle. "Thank you so much for taking care of her." 

Alielle looked very pleased with herself. "It was no problem at all. She's like a little angel." 

Everyone else was here to see them off. They said their good-byes to Miz and stepped back to give Makoto some room. "This is a fixed temporal wormhole, so we'll be back right away," he explained. 

"Enough impressing us with the big words," Nanami said. "You told us that already." 

"Say hello for us," Shayla added. 

"I will." Makoto powered up the staff and snared the end of the wormhole he wanted. There was a flash of light and space warped around them. When their eyes adjusted they found themselves standing in a moonlit desert valley. The cool night air slowly displaced the pocket of air that had followed them from the hospital room. 

"Are you sure this is it?" Miz asked, looking at the steep mesa wall towering over them. "They all look alike." 

"No two mountains are alike," Fujisawa said confidently. "This is it all right. I guess she got that shield back up." Since each of the men had only one hand free they each took a handle and gently pushed Miz' wheelchair into the wall. Ai-chan exclaimed and waved her arms in delight as the wall dissolved to reveal a sprawling garden where there should have been solid rock. It was also night here, but a night well lit by an artificial moon in an artificial deep purple sky. 

They only had to wait a few seconds. The guardian of this place came flying out to meet them. Makoto felt just a little relief that the staff detected no weapon systems being activated. She must have guessed who it was even before she saw them. The Demon God landed upon the luxuriant grass and closed the rest of the distance on foot. It felt odd seeing her in that uniform. His Ifurita's identical one had hung unseen at the back of a closet since her return to El Hazard. Makoto smiled. "Hello, Ifurita." 

She looked just mildly surprised to see them. "Makoto. You look well." 

"Thanks. It's good to see you again." 

Her gaze shifted to the Fujisawa family. "Miz, Fujisawa. Welcome." They both returned her greeting. Ifurita frowned. "Miz... have you been crippled?" 

"My goodness no," she said lightly. "I was in a nasty altercation, that's all. But I'll be up and about sooner than my silly men folk think." 

Ifurita noticed the baby and smiled. "I take it you had your wedding after all." 

"Oh yes. Our third anniversary is coming up already." 

Ifurita's interest shifted to the staff Makoto held. She suddenly looked very troubled. "Makoto... have you still not found her?" 

"Yes, I did. In fact our own anniversary is coming up." 

She smiled warmly. "I'm so glad to hear that. I was afraid you had come for my help as a last resort." 

"In fact we are here to ask you a favor. I know we promised not to disturb you here, but we don't have anybody else to turn to." 

"I hope you have not forgotten my vow never to leave this place." It was spoken gently, but with a finality that brooked no argument. 

"No, I haven't. I would never ask you to break that vow. We would just like you to take care of Miz and the baby for a while. It's not safe for them on Earth right now. But Miz is still recovering from an attack that nearly killed her. We'd feel better if she were with somebody who has the old medical technology and knows how to use it, just in case. It would be for just a few days at most." 

"And we've brought you enough baby supplies for a month," Fujisawa added, giving the knapsack he'd set down a light kick. 

"Of course, they are welcome to stay. Miz, I would like to do a deep scan of your injury. It would not hurt." 

"I know, Ifurita did one before I left. I mean the other Ifurita." 

Ifurita put her hand against Miz' side for a moment. "It seems to be healing well. But you should not strain yourself. The ground is not suited for this chair, I will bring a litter." 

She disappeared and flew back a few minutes later leading something that looked like a floating chair attached to a small platform. She helped Miz into the chair, loaded the bags and proceeded to the residence, floating along the ground at a pace the men could follow. When it looked like Miz and the baby were settled in, Makoto thought it was time to have the little talk he had planned. "Fujisawa-sensei, before we go I'd like to ask Ifurita's advice about something. I won't be long, why don't we just meet at the entrance?" 

"Sounds good." He probably understood this was also to give him a chance to say good-bye to his family in private. 

"Take care of yourself Miz," Makoto said, waving. 

"And you, Makoto. My prayers will be with you all." 

Makoto and Ifurita walked back out into the artificial night. "What did you want to ask me?" she asked. 

He just gazed at her for a moment. He saw her with much different eyes now. Before, her presence had been a draught of spring-water to a man with a desperate thirst, a tantalizing reminder of the one who awaited him just out of reach, half a universe away. Now she reminded him of the Ifurita he knew in that brief interval between the blessed moment he had freed her and the horrible moment she had plunged into the Eye of God. "It's actually something I need to tell you. I don't even want to think it, but I have to. The fact is, there's a chance we won't be back at all." 

Ifurita looked surprised, if not shocked. "I see. Is Miz aware of this?" 

"She knows the danger we're going back to. She's being very brave, but waiting for us here is going to be very difficult for her." 

"I understand. I will try to make her as comfortable as I can." 

Makoto continued with some difficulty. "If we haven't come back within a fortnight, it will almost certainly mean that we aren't coming back at all. I haven't told the others this, but I have arranged for a Rostalian navy cutter to come here fifteen days from now. The crew will be hand-picked by Princess Rune, the few who are entrusted with the secret of this place." 

"In that case, I am to explain this arrangement to Miz and deliver her to the ship." 

"I had to make this arrangement, but I'm telling you I am absolutely not considering it an option. We will be back. You can count on it." 

She nodded. "Whatever it is that you will be facing, I hope for your success and safe return." 

"Then I'll be seeing you again soon. Before I go, there's one other thing I wanted to ask. My wife... my Ifurita... has told me that one day she would like to come here to see you. I'm not sure why, but I think she's unsure whether she would be welcome." 

Ifurita pondered that in silence for a moment. "Perhaps she thinks I resent the fact that my soul mate died to save hers. She need not be concerned. I always knew I would lose him one day, I had long since prepared myself. I am content with my memories and with the task that he left me. Please tell her I would be happy to meet her." 

Makoto smiled with gratitude. 'Thank you, Ifurita. I will tell her that." 

Fujisawa was waiting for him at the entrance. As an afterthought he took the wheelchair back with him. It did belong to the hospital, after all. When they returned, everyone was in exactly the position they were when he had left. Half an hour to him had been a split second for them. He had used these fixed temporal wormholes a couple of times before, but he still found it creepy. "Everything's set. Nanami, did you leave the note?" 

"Yep," she said, pointing to the note she had left on Miz' bed. "She wasn't supposed to be discharged for a week. They are going to be pissed." 

"Well, it can't be helped. I guess we'd better get out of here." 

They made their way back to the apartment. Makoto was happy to see that Kauru was looking a lot better. He had been debating the idea of sending her back to El Hazard, but he knew she would have none of it. She had already proven that she could hold her own. However much he hated putting any of them in danger, he was glad to have her along. 

As soon as they arrived, Ifurita logged in with her arsenal of laptops, doing another check on her suspected dopplegangers. Almost immediately, her voice was raised in the restrained urgency that for her signified alarm. "Alielle, could you turn on the television please? Switch it to NHK." 

Afura was also in the room with them. "Is something wrong, Ifurita?" 

"I think we have just run out of time." 

The picture came on and Alielle turned up the volume. It was some breaking news story in progress, two reporters in a studio were solemnly sizing up the situation. Ifurita was still dividing her attention among her six network sessions, so Makoto went to sit down with Alielle and Afura. Soon all the others wandered back into the living room, sensing the rise in tension. Over the next few minutes they watched in relative silence and bit by bit the whole picture emerged. A long list of very important people all across the country had not shown up for work this morning. Most of them were now reported missing. The country was reeling, everybody was still madly scrambling to learn if this was a grand hoax, an incredible coincidence, a vast terrorist operation or something more bizarre. 

"Most of the ones missing were on our list of probables," Ifurita soon announced. "They have pulled all their operatives from the field." 

"Are they crazy?" Nanami said. "They've practically announced their presence to the world." 

"Which means they no longer care whether their position is hidden." Ifurita stood up and glanced at the television. It switched off. The infrared emitters in her eyes had once been used to communicate with ancient weapon systems, but they had been easily adapted to emulate remote controls. "The pattern of disappearances is clear, the earliest ones were from the furthest points in the country. The Phantom Tribe are all converging upon the nest that we found. By now they have all arrived." 

"What are they going to do?" Kauru asked. 

"We can make some reasonable guesses." Ifurita walked in front of the television and turned to address the group. "Their concentration upon geothermal plants and deep mining operations must mean they somehow plan to unleash the power of the planet's molten magma. Erinyes' power may also be involved in this. A long time ago Makoto described to me another El Hazard he visited in an alternate universe, one where the Phantom Tribe's plans were successfully completed. It was a cold, dark world in perpetual twilight. This fits Erinyes' description of their home planet. It seems reasonable they plan to do much the same thing here. I had been wondering why they had restricted their operations to Japan, thinking it could not be simply because this is where Erinyes had landed on this planet before. It is unique in that it is a geographically unstable region that supports an advanced technological infrastructure including various industries that have done deep tunneling. I believe they have taken advantage of this and planted devices all along the country meant to trigger massive volcanic eruptions. If the inactive volcanoes on the Japan islands were to become active all at once it would be a disaster far worse than any nuclear winter. It would make this earth a twin of that other El Hazard." 

"Gods preserve us," Afura breathed. "They're all hiding underground. They're getting ready to do it." 

"But they could do it at any moment!" Shayla said. "We can't possibly get to all those places in time." 

"I am hoping we will not need to," Ifurita said. "This nest is their one place that is in a relatively stable area. It is where they have retreated to and it is undoubtedly the core of this operation." 

"What if it's just a bunch of time-bombs," Nanami asked. "They might have just set it all up and run, this place may just be their hiding place." 

"If that is so then there is nothing we can do and they have already won. This is our only chance." 

"Then we'd better take it," Fujisawa said. "I assume we're all going this time?" 

"Yes. We can take Makoto's car and the rental car." 

"It will take us nearly an hour to get there," Makoto said. "Couldn't we use the wormholes?" 

"Erinyes would almost certainly detect that," Ifurita explained. "Just as she would detect if Afura or Kauru moved in by air or water. Despite the delay, I believe stealth is our best hope." 

"Do you know how they're going to do it?" Kauru asked. 

"Since there is no Earth technology that could do such a thing, it must be some artifact from El Hazard, something we haven't seen yet. Once we break into their nest we may simply have to start destroying anything that looks suspicious." 

"How are we going to get in?" Afura asked. "You've already said we can't use the entrance you found or the underground river." 

"I have an idea about that," Ifurita said. "We should be going, I can explain once we're there." 

An hour later they were driving through a wide valley, the great, dark mountain looming on their right. Everything looked so peaceful. These rice fields had been here for centuries. Makoto found himself wondering if the newly planted crops would ever be seeing the light of day. 

They parked by one of the ubiquitous little shrines and climbed a path further up into the foothills. "So what was this way in you told us about?" Shayla asked. 

Ifurta brought them to a stop. "I think we might try my idea about now. Alielle, would you like to proceed ahead?" 

She smiled, like she was happy to be sharing some secret with the Demon God. "Sure. Back in a jiffy." She trotted further up the rough wooded path. 

"Where is she going?" Fujisawa asked. "She shouldn't be alone up here, those people could be crawling all over." 

"She will be remaining within sight," Ifurita said. "We think her deep sight will work better if the rest of us are some distance behind her." 

"Then she does have the vision!" Kauru said excitedly. "She told me about it, but I thought she might be imagining it all." 

"No, she has not," Ifurita said. "We have done a few crude experiments. It is very real." 

"Would somebody mind clueing the rest of us in," Nanami asked. 

"It's a power she picked up the first time she gated over to Earth," Makoto said. "I had always wondered whether it would happen." 

Nanami slapped her forehead. "Damn, I never even thought..." 

"We figured it out some time ago," Makoto continued. "She can sense concentration of life nearby. She's more sensitive to complex life forms like larger mammals, most sensitive of all to intelligent life." 

"So she's sniffing them out for us," Shayla said. She cracked her knuckles. "Fine, whatever works." 

"What about the rest of us?" Afura asked. "Do we have some new powers we don't know about?" 

"We've been thinking about that," Makoto said. "If all of you did, you would think more than one of you would have stumbled on it by now. The only theory I can think of is that the rest of you already had a special ability. You priestesses had your elemental powers, and Ifurita had her ability to integrate new weapons. Maybe that prevented any new powers from manifesting." He shrugged. "We still have no idea how or why it even happens, so who knows." 

"How or why it happens?" Afura smiled. "That's obvious. The wormholes gave you exactly what you would need when you reached your destination. They are threads of fate woven through the firmament." 

Makoto smiled. "I'd like to believe that too. But it still doesn't explain why it happens." 

"Perhaps it does." Makoto was surprised to hear Ifurita speak. She usually had little interest in abstract musings of philosophy, metaphysics or religion. "Afura is suggesting the wormholes act with some intelligence upon the bodies that travel through them. One of the few things we understand about these artifacts is that time is virtually meaningless for them. If they did harbor some intelligence they could easily see the future each traveler had in store and prepare them accordingly." 

"Well then why don't they make everybody into ultimate weapons like you?" Shayla asked. "Then they could deal with anything." 

"You are asking me to speculate on the motivations and rules of conduct of whoever created the wormholes. I could not even begin to do that." 

"Wait a second," Nanami said. "Makoto told me these wormholes are just there, just a part of the universe, like the stars and the planets. Are you saying somebody made them? Which is it?" 

Ifurita smiled in a way that looked both playful and dangerous. "Perhaps both." 

"Oh..." 

Nobody could seem to find anything to say. Before long, Alielle turned around and made her way back down the path. She spoke with more confidence than Makoto had expected to hear. "Almost all of them are deep underground, below the mountain. They're really agitated and nervous, like they're busy getting ready for something. There aren't any on the surface. But there are a few near the surface, all around the mountain. There's one group pretty near." She pointed. "Just over that ridge. I'll be able to tell you better if we can get closer. But I'm already getting really bad vibes from them. Mean, hostile, like a mountain cat with cubs." 

"Guards," Shayla said. "That's an entrance." 

"Undoubtedly," Ifurita agreed. "Fujisawa-san, could you please find us the quickest path to where Alielle indicated? Keep us in cover and stop us just before we reach the crest." 

"You got it. Okay kids, single file and don't bunch up." He set a brutal pace but selected his path well. They had little difficult climbing or undergrowth to contend with. In a surprisingly short time they were gathered in front of a great bare rock that stood upon the ridge surrounded by trees. 

"We are going to try and take the guards before they can raise an alarm," Ifurita said. "I want to avoid use of any elemental attacks, so this will be knife-work. Shayla, Afura, Alielle, will you accompany me?" They all nodded. "The rest of you wait here, I will come back for you. Kauru, if you detect any of our powers being used pinpoint it and bring the others to us, best possible speed." 

"Yes, Ifurita-sama. Safe journey." 

"It will be," Shayla said. She grinned, patting the oversized knife strapped to her thigh. "But not for them." 

Makoto felt his stomach doing flips, watching them all follow Ifurita's lead around the rock and out of sight. He was beginning to agree with Shayla that waiting was always the worst. Nanami had already gone to crouch down on the stony crest of the ridge just in front of the big rock, presumably so that she could get a decent view in all directions. It was distressing how he had become used to seeing her like this, looking for assassins in every corner wherever they went. It was probably wearing her out more than she was showing. Makoto approached her and crouched down beside her. Ula padded silently along at his heel, as she had been doing since their departure. "It will sure be nice when you don't have to do that any more," he said. 

She never stopped scanning their surroundings for a second. "I don't think I'll ever be able to stop doing this. Not now." They both spoke in low voices, as if the woods had ears. 

"This will come to an end. Things will return to normal." 

"So what exactly does normal mean for us these days anyway?" 

"For you, I hope it means the worst thing you'll have to worry about is whether to invest your restaurant earnings here or in Rostalia." 

He could just glimpse a little smile come to her lips. "I don't like depending on our royal benefactors, unlike some people I know." 

It was a running joke, there really was no need for a reply. After a moment Makoto spoke more seriously. "Nanami, I'd like to ask you a difficult favor." 

"We're sort of in the middle of something important, Mako-chan." 

"It's about that. When we go into their nest, I'd like Ula to go with you." Nanami finally met his eyes. She looked surprised, and she obviously understood the implications of what he said. "Everyone in the Phantom Tribe probably knows who you are and what you can do. You'll be their first target." 

Nanami looked away quickly. He guessed she was thinking about things she would rather not be. "Well fine, but you just make sure you stick to Ifurita like a barnacle. I want her looking after you." 

"That's a deal then." He reached down and stroked Ula's luxuriant mane. "Ula, you're going to go with Nanami, okay?" 

"Okay, Makoto." The cat walked over beside Nanami and sat down, joining her in contemplating the local foliage. 

It wasn't long before Kauru and Fujisawa came up and started hovering behind them. Makoto sent a questioning look Kauru's way and she just shook her head. She had sensed nothing. 

Fujisawa made an annoyed grunt. "Now that these people have cleared out of the government it's too bad we don't have time to tell them what's really going on. It would be nice to have a battalion of the JSDF backing us up." 

"Oh right," Nanami said. "They'd probably send immigration officers down there to tell them they can't stay here without working visas." 

"Oh..." 

Their heads snapped around to where Kauru stood looking very worried. "What?" Fujisawa asked anxiously. 

"I don't believe I have a working visa." 

The Earthlings all sagged and let out exasperated sighs. "Kauru, I think we can worry about that later," Makoto said mildly. 

"Are these immigration officers truly fearsome warriors?" 

"Trust me, they're the least of our problems right now," Nanami said. "I had documents forged for Alielle, but that was just so we could get her in the school. The rest of you never stay long." 

"We have our duties as the Great Priestesses," Kauru said, sounding apologetic. 

"Kauru..." Nanami shook her head. "Forget it." 

"Oh." Like Makoto, she must have figured out what Nanami didn't want to ask. "If we fall, new lamps will be forged and others will take our places." 

"I wasn't asking that," Nanami snapped. "It's not going to happen so don't even think about it." 

Kauru smiled. "You're right. We are led by the great and terrible Demon God Ifurita." 

"Just remember, she can't do this alone," Fujisawa said in his perfect gentle, chiding teacher's voice. "You really held in there our first time going down to that place. Just do the same thing this time and we'll send them packing." 

She blushed under his rough encouragement. "Yes, Fujisawa Sensei." 

They continued waiting in silence. Makoto had only checked his watch five times by the time Afura came jogging up the trail. The others came out into the open as she approached. She was obviously hurrying, but not in a way that suggested there was an emergency. "We're in," she said. "There were guards like Alielle said, but we've taken care of them. Everyone's okay. We're quite sure they didn't get a warning off. But we don't know how long it is before they will be missed. We should proceed quickly." 

They made their way quickly down the slope of the ridge and through the woods. Before long they came upon a small cleared area that was up against a stony, low cliff face. A section where a hole had been bored in the natural stone wall had been closed off with a chain-link fence covered with stern official-looking signs warning against the danger of entering. "Hide in plain sight," Makoto muttered. The fence had been torn asunder in one place, the wire mesh lying crumpled and twisted on both sides of the gap. Shayla and Alielle stood waiting there. 

"Ifurita's just inside," Shayla explained as soon as they were within easy earshot, addressing herself to Makoto. "We haven't had any company so far." She led them to what looked like the entrance of an old mine... perhaps it had been one. Ifurita came walking out just on time to meet them there. Seeing her, Makoto relaxed just a little. 

"There is a single tunnel heading down," she announced. "I will lead us down. Nanami, I would like you to be beside me." 

"Right." Nobody needed to ask why. Nanami glanced down at Ula, which was all the prompting the alien cat needed. She leaped up and her flattened, distended body slipped around Nanami's torso. While this was happening Makoto's eyes met Ifurita's for just a fraction, an exchange likely missed by all. With that she passed her verdict. She did not like it, but this was his decision. "Let us proceed." She turned to head back into the tunnel. Then suddenly everything was changed. 

Makoto picked it up first in the body language of his wife, even before she stopped dead. Right away the three priestesses were on edge, but they weren't looking at Ifurita. Everyone had picked up on their sudden alertness by now. Makoto looked around wildly, trying to find the source of their distress. "What-" 

"It's like the first time," Shayla said in a low voice. "Somebody's using earth power." Her anger barely hid her distress. They had been found out. 

"Somebody's coming," Alielle warned. The heavy, curved knife she had brought from Rostalia was in her hand. "I can't tell from where." 

Ifurita leapt over the entire group and landed facing out towards the torn fence, her staff held before her. A shimmering transparent globe surrounded her, a shield. Tendrils of fire, little gusts of wind and a sparkling blue light followed the three priestesses as they took up positions beside her. 

The reason for the sudden disregard of stealth came rising smoothly out of the ground in front of them. The earth she had passed through unhindered closed up under her feet again, as if it had never been disturbed at all. The tall woman in black calmly brought her own staff into a defensive stance. "Hello, Ifurita." 

"Erinyes." Ifurita's voice was sharp and cold. "So, this place is important to your plans after all." 

"Our plan is complete. But your futile attempt to stop us will harm those I have sworn to protect. I am here to prevent that, nothing more." The woman was neither boastful nor scornful. 

"You cannot stop us. Together we are more than a match for you. If you try to hinder us then it will mean your death." 

"If I self-destruct right here all of your friends will die." Makoto saw Ifurita's body tense up for just a moment. So what Erinyes had said was true. And Ifurita believed she was prepared to do it. "Go home, Ifurita," Erinyes continued in a gently imploring tone. "If you love your friends, take them back to El Hazard. They can forget about this place and live happily there." 

"If you believe that then you truly understand nothing about them," Ifurita said bitterly. 

"You are a thousand years too early to be debating human nature with me, Ifurita," Erinyes said calmly, but with a finality that said this debate was over. She looked just mildly disappointed at the prospect of immolating herself with the humans. Said humans were now shooting furtive glances to the immobile Demon God. They had all agreed to follow her lead, including the final decision of when they might need to abandon the mission. He saw her tighten her grip on the staff and take in a breath. There was an eternity of silence between two hammering heartbeats. 

"Erinyes, I think we need to step outside." 

"We are outside." 

"I mean really outside." 

Erinyes raised an eyebrow, which was about the only indication of surprise. "Very well. As the challenged I claim right to choose the venue." 

"Acceptable." 

Erinyes looked up into the darkening late afternoon sky. Makoto followed her gaze. Barely visible in the haze, the rising moon had cleared the horizon. "The far side of the satellite, I think," Erinyes said. 

"I agree that would be best." 

Makoto's mouth opened but nothing would come out. He was on the verge of stammering his objection when he was frozen by Erinyes' piercing stare. Her horribly mismatched human and machine eyes locked onto his. Then incredibly she graced him with a knowing smile. You must be the one, her face said. "I will show her no quarter," she said in the manner of a private message that made the others' presence irrelevant. "And I have no care for my own survival. The most likely outcome in this sort of battle is mutual destruction. If you have the power to change her mind, now is the time." 

Ifurita turned to hear his verdict. In her lovely blue eyes were sympathy and apology, but no anticipation. She already knew what his decision would be. Or thought she knew. "Ifurita..." He could end this right now, they could just walk away. But he would never have the heart to look into those eyes again, that would be a life without meaning. All the things he wanted to say would take hours they didn't have. "Hurry back." 

"Should I be the one to return, I shall not give you another chance to change your mind," Erinyes said to him. "Death shall come to you as a bolt from the sky. You will be vapor before you even know that anything has happened." 

Makoto met her gaze without flinching. "I believe in Ifurita." 

"So it would seem. Ifurita, I assume you have not had the occasion to find a wormhole to the satellite?" 

"I have not." 

"Then we have a long trip ahead of us." 

"So we do." Ifurita rose a few feet into the air, and her counterpart did likewise. She looked back down, but not at Makoto. "Shayla, I leave the rest in your hands." 

She looked even more surprised than the rest of them. But a moment later she just nodded. "I understand." As if by some signal none could see the two Demon Gods rocketed straight up into the sky at the same precise moment. In just a few seconds they were out of sight, too far away for human eyes to make out. Makoto was still watching the spot where they had disappeared when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be okay," Shayla assured him. "Come on, let's go." 

Makoto looked at her, frowning in puzzlement. "Go?" 

"We have a long walk. Their nest is probably a mile down." 

Makoto shook his head. "But... we have to wait for Ifurita." 

"We don't have time," she said flatly. "Maybe it's already too late but we have to try. Come on-" 

Makoto violently shook her hand away. "But she's going to be back!" 

Shayla grabbed his shoulders and brought his face inches from hers. "I know she's going to be back!" she shouted. "But by that time it's going to be too late! Erinyes knows that, why do you think she's dragging Ifurita all the way to the moon? She doesn't think we can do this without Ifurita, probably thinks we won't even try. But Ifurita knows better, that's why she drew Erinyes away. They need Erinyes more than we need Ifurita." 

Makoto felt sick dread like nausea creep through his body. "No, she said she'd be back-" 

Shayla's fingers bit into his flesh and she gave him a sharp, painful shake. "Of course she's coming back! She trusts us to do our job, you trust her to do hers. We may need you to mess with whatever machines they're using. Are you coming or do I need to get Fujisawa Sensei to carry you?" 

Fujisawa came up beside them both. "Makoto, you know Shayla's right." His hand over Shayla's was gently coaxing her to loosen her grip on Makoto. "This is what Ifurita intended us to do." 

Makoto knew that. Now that it had been spoon-fed to him it was obvious. This was why she had left Shayla in charge, she knew the fire priestess would never have just sat here awaiting her return. It made sense, it made so much damned sense he hated it. "Okay, let's go." 

Shayla stuck a finger in his face. "And you watch your back in there. If anything happens to you she'll skin me alive." She turned around smartly and headed straight for the entrance. "Nanami, I want you up front with me. Don't worry, you see anything you just point and shout, it'll be dead before the echo dies. Alielle, same goes for you, you're behind us. Kauru, you stick with Fujisawa, Afura you're with Makoto." She steered Nanami into the tunnel, leaving the rest of them to follow in behind. Shayla and Kauru lit the dark, narrow bare rock tunnel with their blue lights, from fire and ring respectively. It cut straight through the rock and opened onto a chamber that had been given a modicum of comfort with some crude wicker and bamboo furniture. Makoto only stole a quick glance at what lay around it. From the look of it most had died more or less where they had been sitting. The group was already filing through what looked like a big cabinet against the far rock wall. It had a false back, leading into another tunnel. Anybody not already knowing this was an entrance to deeper caves would probably have never bothered to look. 

It seemed to take forever. Some of the tunnel had probably been carved out by miners a long time ago. Other parts looked to have been cut more recently by more precise tools. Yet more parts were very curious, it looked like the stone had been melted away and reformed into a rounded tunnel whose surface was rippled like frozen waves. Probably the work of Erinyes' earth power, Makoto supposed. There was more and more of the latter sort of tunnel as they progressed. In places the tunnelers had taken advantage of natural fissures and caverns. Some of the latter were enormous and breathtakingly beautiful, minerals and crystals of all sorts shimmering in the priestess' light. That was not the only light, at widely spaced intervals there were dim bulbs glowing on each side of the floor, usually marking each twist and turn. Even with no light at all, with care one could have traversed the tunnel. Sometimes they walked gentle slopes, sometimes steep stairways. But the path led unerringly, relentlessly downward. 

The fact that they came this far without being molested brought Makoto little relief. His mind was consumed by an image of two Demon Gods flying through space towards an airless, cratered gray arena of battle. 

"These Phantom Tribe critters must be in pretty good shape if they come up all this way every day," Fujisawa muttered. 

"They must have more direct routes, maybe even an elevator shaft," Afura said. "We've come across a back door. Which is probably good." 

At the next place the tunnel opened up a little Shayla brought them to a halt and motioned for them to gather together. "Okay, Alielle says we're getting pretty close to the nest. With that many of them so close, her senses are getting swamped. She won't be able to give us a warning until they're right on top of us, maybe not even then. So we really have to watch. We'll keep this quiet as long as we can while we're looking for this machine or control room or whatever. But if somebody does raise an alarm then we're just going to fight our way into the middle of this place and start blasting anything that isn't rock." 

"That's our plan?" Afura asked incredulously. 

Shayla glared at her. "I'm open to suggestions." 

Afura shrugged and smiled. "I suppose we will have to just improvise, as always." 

They proceeded much more slowly. A few minutes later, the final stretch of the tunnel ended in a heavy wooden door dimly lit by two of the ubiquitous glow bulbs. From the corner they peered around, it looked to have a little sliding window at eye level. "I don't imagine they'd be stupid enough to leave that unlocked," Fujisawa said. 

"Or to leave it unguarded," Alielle added. 

Shayla grunted in irritation. "Okay, here's what we're going to do..." 

A minute later they were all walking very quietly towards the door. Nanami and Shayla crept up to it while the others held slightly back. Nanami very carefully examined the door. She nodded. It was real and it was locked. Without a word she stepped back and Alielle took her place. She made her own examination, looked to Shayla and gave a firm nod. They would have company on the other side. 

Shayla looked back and put up two fingers. She had abandoned the idea of a nice, quiet entry. They were going to plan B. Silently, everybody took their positions. Shayla wasted no time. All with one grand sweep of her arms she called up her fire and sent it flying against the door. The sound was like a physical blow slamming into Makoto's face. But he didn't have time to be stunned, everyone was sprinting and he had to race to keep at Afura's heel. The black-haired priestess shouted a battle cry and launched a screaming juggernaut of air into the room even before Makoto was through the space where the door used to be. Blue-skinned bodies were scattered and dashed against the stone walls of the wide cavern. Others burned and others were assailed by waterspouts that tossed them about lie rag dolls. Then everything went white. He was floating in a featureless world of pure light. But nothing else changed, the rush of elemental forces being unleashed and the screams went on. He thought he heard Nanami screaming directions to somebody. Heat like a bast furnace tingled his face and suddenly the white light was displaced by a titanic orange fireball rushing out to consume them all. But it faded as quickly as it had come, leaving dizzying afterimages. 

A hand grabbed his. "Come on, we're leaving." Afura dragged him at a run through a roiling soup of smoke and mist. Billowing clouds of green smoke were rising off the ground all around them. He thought it might be another illusion until he got a whiff. He wheezed and hacked but a moment later they were out of it. After another moment Makoto got his balance back and matched Afura's pace more easily, so she dropped his hand. They were running down a winding tunnel now. Makoto finally looked past Afura and saw why. Fujisawa and Kauru were running ahead of them. The others must be ahead too. After turning at two intersections Makoto saw Fujisawa and Kauru turn to wait for them, beckoning them to hurry. They were about to catch up when Afura threw up her arms and there was a crack like thunder and a rippling in the air almost too fast to see. A wind shear, an attack he had seen her split towering rocks with. 

It cut through Fujisawa and Kauru, shearing them in half like a great scythe. 

Makoto screamed. He threw himself at Afura, clawing at her, still screaming incoherently. His arms were parried aside and a lightning fast hammerblow sent him staggering. He managed to stay on his feet, managed to focus on Afura's snarling face. "Look!" she shouted, jabbing a finger down the tunnel. Makoto's eyes were inexorably, morbidly drawn to the site of the horror he had witnessed. He nearly fell again. There were two blue-skinned bodies, a man and a girl. Two people, four halves. Bow casters lay wrapped in dead fingers. 

"How..." Makoto could only get single words out between great gulps of air. "How did..." 

"When they were ready to attack, maybe they let it slip. It was just a glimpse, just enough." 

"God..." It had looked so real, even as they were tumbling down in a shower of blood. "How did they do that?" 

"We were all over the room when those gas bombs dropped out of the ceiling. The guards obscured us from each other, gave us a good reason to leave quickly and gave us something to follow. Very clever." 

Adrenaline was easing off enough to allow coherent thought now. "The others, the same thing must have happened to them." 

"Shayla must have taken off with Nanami and expected everyone else to follow like we were supposed to," Afura said. 

Makoto took Afura's lead and scanned their surroundings. He was becoming all too aware of their being alone. "So what now?" 

"We should follow Shayla's plan, such as it is. Hopefully we'll run into the others that way too. Care to pick a tunnel?" 

He knew which one he did not want to go down. "That one." 

Afura smiled crookedly. "Not the one they were leading us down. Good choice." Makoto chose not to reply. 

The first two groups they encountered scurried away before Afura could even fire upon them. They were men in strange robes, similar to tribesmen he had seen captured when the Rostalians had recaptured the tower to the Eye of God. Scientists or technicians, most likely. It seemed the prevailing wisdom was true, most of the tribesmen were not warriors or illusionists. They seemed to be working their way into an area where the tunnels were wider and better lit with more frequent glow bulbs. They passed through caves that had been turned into storage and working areas. But even these were unoccupied. "It seems so empty," Makoto commented. 

"Probably their noncombatants have locked themselves behind these closed doors we've been passing," Afura said. "Speaking of which, keep watching behind us." 

"Right." For what it might be worth, anyway. 

A few minutes later, Afura waved for them to stop. Makoto tensed up, looking furtively back then turning to peer down the tunnel Afura was taking them into. But it seemed she was listening for something rather than watching for something. He caught his breath. "I hear it," he whispered. It was a very low thrumming, barely in the range of hearing. 

"That way," Afura said, indicating to the right of the tunnel. 

"You can tell?" 

"This air is so still, anything that disturbs it comes out clearly." 

"That could be what we're looking for," Makoto said. His heart was jumping again. Whatever the Phantom Tribe was doing, this could mean it had begun. 

Afura's concern seemed to mirror his. "We should get there as quickly as we can." 

"It might be better guarded that way." They had been proceeding cautiously, Makoto balked at the thought of just plunging headlong. 

"I wasn't suggesting we run." 

"Then-" 

"Hang on." She grabbed a hold of him and the air whipped her dark hair up in front of his face. His feet lifted off the ground. He threw his arms madly around her just on time to prevent being torn from her grip. He hung on for dear life as they flew at insane speed down the maze of tunnels. She hardly even slowed for the turns. If he weren't concentrating on not losing his dinner he would have shouted at her to slow it down. They passed by dim blurs that may have been people being blown aside. There seemed to be a bow wave of wind ahead of them, bowling over anything in their path. 

Something whizzed by his head and ricocheted off the wall. "Someone's shooting at us!" he gasped. Afura's grunted reply sounded something like "This must be the place." They had moved into a very wide. straight tunnel. Now that they were on a level course Makoto managed to steal a look ahead. They were seconds away from running into a line of people blocking the path. It looked like a firing squad. Afura let out a sharp cry and the dust and debris in the shock wave preceding them became a whirling vortex, whipped into strobing concentric circles by a vertical tornado that shrieked like a banshee. Volleys of projectiles flung their way just added to the maelstrom. Makoto only heard it when the windstorm slammed into their reception committee. All he saw was what was stuck to the surface of the tunnel they passed through. He imagined the inside of a food processor must look something like that. 

They shot straight into a big, roughly round natural cave whose floor had been cut flat. The nearest tribesmen were swept aside by their passage. But they were not cut to pieces, Afura had toned down her invisible battering ram to a mere hurricane. There were more tribesmen scattered about the dimly lit space, they were all in those strange long, colorful robes. The thing Makoto most noticed upon his first glimpse of the cavern was the big round hole in the floor, which made the cave appear like a gallery or balcony looking upon something below. What looked like the top of a big dome stuck out of this hole, its summit almost coming up to the level of the floor. 

The other thing he noticed was the dull thrumming that resonated through the enclosure. "This is it!" he declared. Without a word Afura brought their mad flight to an end in a place Makoto hadn't expected: she landed them right on top of the big, dark dome. He released his grip on her, looked below and drew in his breath. "Below us..." 

"I know." They could now see what had been hidden by the rim of the hole. Its wall went about ten feet straight down to meet a lower floor, a narrow ring of stone into which this great dome disappeared. It was like this was the very tip of a monstrous ellipsoid machine embedded into the rock. All along the circular wall of the shallow pit were pieces of unearthly machinery. It looked all too familiar to somebody who had spent months inside the Eye of God. The people who had been tending these machines had all turned at their arrival, pointing and crying out in alarm. 

"Get down!" Afura shoved down on Makoto's shoulder and he barely broke his fall, coming down hard on the dome's surface. It consisted of closely fitted plates of some rough, dark metal. It vibrated in time with the thrumming noise, and was uncomfortably warm to the touch. He heard Afura give out a short, clipped shout and suddenly they were in the eye of a hurricane. Twisting, turning bodies spiraled up around him, a dozen of them, now tumbling helplessly up near the natural ceiling of the cavern. A couple of unlucky ones connected with one of the blunt stalactites. A moment later the others' luck ran out too. The timbre of the wind's screaming changed, and it threw them all back down to the floor at something approaching terminal velocity. He could not even hear the impacts. Then the rushing air was stilled, and nothing moved. There was only the deep, pulsating vibration shaking Makoto's bones. 

"Should I destroy those machines?" Afura asked, looking like she was getting ready to do just that. 

"No, wait," Makoto said, shooting his arm up. "Those are just consoles. They've already done whatever they needed to start up this thing. We need to destroy the machine." 

Afura looked down at the thing they stood upon. "I don't think I could put more than a dent in this." She spoke loudly over the waxing and waning noise that Makoto could swear was getting louder. "Even if it were all that we see. But the rest of it could be much larger, and it's all embedded in rock." 

"I'll go down to one of those consoles," Makoto said. "Try and link with it." 

Afura nodded. She did a quick scan around. "Three entrances. I'll seal up two of them and guard the third." 

Makoto walked carefully down the curve of the dome. He nearly stumbled when the first of Afura's wind shears blasted the wall over one of the entrances, sending it tumbling down in a shower of dust and boulders. The dome's surface was rough enough and the curve shallow enough that he was able to step straight from it onto the stone floor into which it disappeared. He stood there a moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He heard another clap of thunder and another piece of the cavern wall shatter and tumble to the floor. Then Afura flew off the dome and disappeared back the way they had come. Makoto stepped over to the nearest console. It looked much like ones he had seen in the Eye of God and on other relics from the Holy Wars. But it had been reconfigured, in fact it looked like it had almost been rebuilt from scratch. The display was meaningless to him. He might be able to link with the machine from here but... he looked along the wall that curved in around the dome to his left and right. Ah, there. A black cylinder rising at an angle from a small, featureless machine. A direct link, like the one he used to link with the Eye of God. He ran around the curve of the dome to where the machine sat facing it. He ran past a little alcove and paused. What from above had looked like just an indentation in the wall actually was the entrance to a low, narrow tunnel. It angled down, seeming to follow the curve of the part of this machine that was embedded in the rock below. Perhaps giving access to other parts of the machine. Well, the terminal should serve his purposes just as well. He closed the rest of the short distance to it. Then his heart leapt and a sinking feeling of dread overwhelmed him. He looked back at the tunnel. It was another entrance, one that could let enemies in. Or perhaps they had already- 

Pain exploded in his shoulder and he was thrown back. He screamed, staggering back and tripping on the shallow slope of the dome. He fell down upon it, hitting his head hard. He was stunned, but his hand still came up involuntarily to clutch his wounded shoulder. It felt wet. His vision swam, he thought he was passing out, starting to see things. But the pain in his shoulder and head cut through the dizziness, allowing him to focus on the two figures leering down at him. Galus and Nahato, both holding curved knives. The taller man's blade dripped blood. He brought it up between them, as if presenting Makoto with a gift. "It has been quite some time, Mizuhara." He spoke softly, it was only because his basso voice carried so well even in the incessant rumbling that Makoto heard it at all. "But, I couldn't let you go without returning the favor." He pushed the fabric of his tunic aside, revealing an old scar just near his collarbone. 

Makoto tried to sit up on the sloped surface of the dome, but using his arm sent a fresh wave of pain lancing up his shoulder. He threw his head back and gave full vent to his agony. 

"She can't hear you," Galus said, apparently guessing his intent. "My companions are keeping her busy." 

"Galus-sama, should I..." The handsome young boy, now taller than Makoto remembered him, inclined his head towards where Afura went. 

"Not yet. Watch this one for a moment." He sneered down at Makoto. "Since his banshee devil woman has killed all my technicians, I want to check up on our progress." He walked over to the black, cylindrical stock angling out of the nearby machine. Still facing Makoto and grinning, he reached out to his side and placed his hand upon its shiny surface. Little blue tendrils like veins snaked from his fingertips up his hand and down across the terminal, appearing to fuse them together. Makoto blinked away tears of pain and frustration. So this terminal did link with the machine. And Galus was the one who could use it. 

Galus' eyes went unfocused, but he still faced Makoto, as if somehow wanting to share this moment. "Oh yes," he purred. "Oh yes, it is proceeding very nicely. Very nicely indeed." He dropped his hand from the terminal and his predatory eyes found their mark again. "You know, very soon that machine will become red hot. We didn't bother with a cooling system, so it will burn itself out. No matter of course, we only need use it once." His eyes were gradually becoming wilder, his sallow face more creased by his death-mask grin. "But we can make an interesting wager, Mizuhara. If you try to move from there I will run you through. Can you lie there and live or will you be roasted? Will I have your charred, disfigured form to amuse me as my new court jester or will your seared flesh provide my dinner? Which shall it be, shall you watch the end of your world at my feet or from my belly?" 

Makoto had to take advantage of his mania. Had to distract him, keep him from remembering that he had been about to send Nahato to stab Afura in the back. He spoke haltingly, between winces of pain. It was only partly theatrical. "At least... let me stand then. Let me... be on my feet when you kill me." 

Galus laughed out loud. He spread his arms wide, holding his knife high. "Very well then, my belly it is! So much the better, we can prepare you properly this way! You shall be the main course at my celebration dinner! Come, little human, on your feet! Let us see how much of your entrails I can remove before you fall!" 

Makoto gave him a good show, falling back onto the hot surface of the dome twice before even getting to his knees. He glared into Galus' eyes the whole time. From the corner of his eye Makoto could see Nahato fidgeting. His master was having too much fun, but he could probably see that Makoto was drawing this out. He would give warning any moment. So it was time to give Galus his offering. He planted one foot and put both hands on his knee to lever himself up when an orange missile flew down and enveloped Galus in a furry corset. 

The white haired man staggered, looked down in horror at the hissing cat-head sticking out of his collarbone. He screamed, swiping at it with his knife. It was a poor stroke, not surprising since it was inches from his throat. Ula's mouth reached out and clamped down on his knife-hand, holding it in place. Jaws stronger than steel drove razor teeth through sinew and bone. Galus shrieked, dropping his knife, slamming his free hand uselessly against the offending head. Then he was choking, his eyes bulging horribly, and it was only Nahato screaming now, begging Galus to take his hand away from the thing's head so he could strike. The boy's horrible shriek followed closely on the sound of his master's ribcage imploding. Nahato turned his twisted, tear-streaked face to Makoto. He saw Ula slip quickly from around Galus' fallen body, but suddenly everything went white. Of course, Ula would never be able to find him this way, even if she could make it on time. It would be all over soon. 

There was an impact and a gurgling sound. A new voice spoke. It was a familiar one, but rasping and strained as if each word came out between clenched teeth. "Don't you try that shit on me, I can see you just FINE!" The blinding light faded away. Nanami had a strange rifle gripped in her hands, it looked something like the one he had stabbed Galus with long ago. She thrust down on it again and again, each time pushing Nahato a little further across the floor with the bayonet embedded in his abdomen, as if she meant to mop the floor with his blood. It wasn't until she got a satisfying death rattle that she turned her attention to Makoto. She immediately dropped her weapon, losing all interest in her kill. "Oh God, Makoto!" She dropped down beside him. "Don't move, I'll take care of this." 

"Knew... you'd get here." 

"Shut up, don't talk." She hooked her fingers around both sides of the ragged tear in his shirt and pulled savagely, ripping it open. Fumbling just a little, she pulled a white package out of one of the many pockets in her khaki vest. An adhesive bandage for a puncture wound, Makoto recalled. Good thing somebody had thought to bring them. He winced as she applied it. "Sorry," she said, barely audible. 

"Nanami... help me to that terminal." 

"Right." He put an arm around her shoulders and she helped him up. Once standing it wasn't so bad, he walked easily over to the terminal. "Thank goodness Ula caught your scent," Nanami said. "We could barely keep up with her." 

"Nanami!" Afura floated down into the shallow pit from above, looking in horror at the bloody scene. "How did you know...?" 

"We didn't, Ula freaked and we followed her." 

Afura's expression hardened again. "Shayla's holding the tunnel but we need your eyes again. One almost slipped through, there may be more. I have to watch here, but I'll hoist you up." Without even asking leave she took Nanami under the arms and they sailed up to the balcony. 

"Makoto." He looked down at the big cat, who seemed eager to jump up and envelop him in her protective cloak. He held out his hand and shook it in negative. "Go protect Nanami." 

Her little face fell. "Makoto-" 

"DO IT!" 

She stepped back, whimpering. But she leaped up onto the balcony above and ran away without further complaint. Makoto laid his hand onto the flat round surface of the terminal and made the connection. He reached out, his awareness merging with the artificial brain of the living machine. He saw what it saw, felt what it felt, knew what it knew. 

Knew that it was already too late. 

He saw tendrils reaching out from here to the devices the Phantom Tribe had set up in all those mine shafts and tunnels. Each tendril was a wormhole. Power coursed down them, setting up sympathetic vibrations that swept up and down fault lines, setting up a web of feedback loops that was already building to its climax. He saw a ghostly image of the outcome the machine's little brain was projecting, a line of volcanoes opening up from one end of the country to the other, spewing out millions of tons of smoke and ash to spread out over the globe and blot out the sun. 

Makoto let the voices of panic and despair scream on, but he refused to listen. The machine could not be shut down, it would run through its cycle until it ran out of power, there was nothing he could do about that. Which meant there was only one solution. He gave the command. A barrage of warnings assaulted him, not seen or heard but simply shot straight into his heart as a premonition of certain doom. He surged through them like a pure, searing laser and the command was executed. Only then did he examine the consequences of what he had just done. It explained why he had been forced to crash through so many safety locks to do it. 

He severed the link, came back into the real world. He looked around for Afura, found her up above him near the edge of the pit, shooting hurricane blasts out at something he could not see. Shayla was with her, she noticed Makoto first. She leaped down beside him. It was obvious she didn't like what she saw in his face. "Makoto, is it...?" 

"I did it. I stopped it from happening." 

She could tell there was going to be a catch. "But...?" 

He shouted over the rapidly building thrumming of the machine. "There's nowhere else for the energy to go now. It's going to explode. Ten minutes, maybe." 

Shayla let herself be stunned for just two seconds. Then she unceremoniously scooped Makoto up in her arms and vaulted up out of the pit again. That really hurt. She set him down, threw her head back and shouted. Her voice boomed and echoed like a god's, as if the elements themselves had spoken. "We - are - LEAVING!" 

Everything was motion and fury. Makoto noticed that Alielle was with them too. She did not look good. She ran awkwardly, holding her side with her hand, breathing in shallow gasps. Broken ribs maybe. So, their last moments were going to be spent running through a sea of pain. He would have preferred to find some corner to spend them more quietly. But he couldn't blame them for trying, couldn't bear to tell them it was futile. 

The two priestesses cut a path for them, often as not just shooting indiscriminately ahead even when they could see nothing. Nanami had little work to do. He saw that she was favoring a bleeding leg. Probably one of them skinned her with a bow caster. She noticed him watching her run. "Shayla thought she felt Kauru use her power somewhere this way," she said breathlessly. Makoto hadn't even thought to ask. It really didn't matter, after all. 

They fell straight into the trap. It was a huge cavern with many entrances, left in its natural state save for the beautifully glowing crystals that had been embedded in the rocks all around. They must have preserved this cave for its beauty, but now they were using it as a killing ground. Afura had barely been able to deflect their bow caster shots with a great sweeping wind shear, had given them just enough time to dive for cover. But they were pinned down under a barrage of bow caster fire. There were scores of hiding places all over the rough bowl-shaped floor, there could be hundreds of them. Shayla and Afura were arguing over which one of them was going to go out in the open and keep them busy while the rest ran. But then a boulder just a little smaller than a truck came crashing down into the middle of the cave, bouncing and rolling madly across the jagged floor, scattering rocks and bodies in all directions. 

More tribesmen than Makoto thought there would be jumped up from all over, turning to face the new threat. It came in the form of great torrents of water exploding out of all the far entrances. Some of them ran, some of them just stood there, either stunned with disbelief or just accepting the inevitable. Probably none of them noticed the tall man and the short, cyan-haired girl floating on one of the churning white wave crests, riding it like surfers. Nor did they notice that the water hunted them with cold purpose, moved not by mere gravity and momentum but by the power of will. It swept them all out the lower entrances of the caves. 

By this time Shayla was standing on top of their rock cover, waving madly. Kauru sent her churning white wave towards them, depositing herself and Fujisawa on the little island of calm. "Shayla! We-" 

"We're leaving!" Shayla snapped. "And we have to be quick about it. We'll go up and look for an exit." She looked past Kauru, frowning. "What the..." 

The water was not disappearing as it should when the priestess of water was done with it. It was now flowing through the cave like rapids, lapping the edge of their little hiding spot. 

"We got lost further up and they had us cornered," Kauru said. "I opened the river into the caves. I know it was dangerous, but it was the only way to clear them out quickly." 

Shayla snapped her fingers. "Great, that's our way out! Can you get us there?" 

"I'll try." 

Kauru formed a little raft of her charmed water and they all crowded onto it. She struggled to get them up the rapids, but once in a tunnel they made better headway up the stream. 

Finally, Shayla asked him. It would have been so easy to lie. But he shook his head. "No, it won't be fast enough. We'll never make it." His sad, sympathetic eyes were locked on her angry, disbelieving ones. 

"We found another exit," Fujisawa offered. "At least we assume it was one. A big stairway going up as far as we could see. It's in this direction too." 

Shayla looked at Makoto. "How about that, would that be fast enough?" 

No. "Maybe." 

"Kauru, that's where we're headed." 

The water had already risen to swallow the entrance to the narrow little stairway, Kauru had to take them underwater for a ways. It was exactly as Fujisawa said, a stairway going up into the darkness, its glow bulbs fading into infinity above them. Kauru floated them some distance up, but the little water platform abruptly fell from under their feet and Kauru collapsed into Fujisawa's arms, barely conscious. She had done all she could. They started to climb, but Shayla suddenly stopped and grabbed Makoto's arm. "Makoto, this isn't going to work either, is it?" 

"No." 

That seemed to be the answer she was expecting. As always, he had been a poor liar. Shayla seemed to come to some decision. "Afura, if we get real friendly can you put a wind shield around all of us?" 

"Yes, but I can't fly us all if that's what you're thinking." 

"You won't need to, just be ready with the shield." She climbed back down the stairs past the rest of them. "Everyone, get behind me and stick real, real close." She faced away from them, put her hands out before her. Orange fire flared in front of her, and she was silhouetted by a roaring flame that grew brighter and brighter. Makoto could feel it heating up the whole tunnel. 

"What is it?" Nanami whispered. 

Makoto turned to see that the question had been directed at Afura. The dark-haired priestess held a surprised frown that showed both recognition and puzzlement. "It's a plasmoid. A really big one." 

"What's she shooting at?" Fujisawa wondered. 

"It's not for shooting at things. It burns away gradually, it's for flash-heating..." her eyes went wide. "Oh, no." 

There was a whoosh of displaced air and Shayla's fire went streaking down the tunnel. She spun around and leaped right into the tightly huddled group. "Afura!" 

Suddenly they were all lifted off the ground and squeezed in together. It was like being hit by a wind from all sides at once. Makoto involuntarily threw his arm up against the invisible gale but was forced back. The more he pushed the harder it pushed back. Something came rushing up the tunnel straight at them. Nanami must have figured it out a fraction before Makoto did, because just as he was thinking Shayla had gone to a lot of trouble to kill them all spectacularly Nanami groaned in a deadpan, despairing voice. "Oh shi-" 

The screaming cloud of steam slammed into the spherical wind barrier that stretched from one end of the tunnel to the other. The same force that had propelled man into the industrial age propelled the frictionless globe of charmed air up the stairway like a musket ball. There was a collective grunt and wheeze as they were all thrown into the back of their invisible cocoon and into each other. Just as Makoto's body was reeling at the impact his mind was reeling with astonishment, over the utter audacity of what they were doing, and over the fact that it was actually working. He was just beginning to accept the fact that they might live when somebody shouted. "We're gonna hit!" 

There was another flare of light. Nanami and Kauru were pressed up against Shayla, so they both squealed at the tongues of flame that flashed between Shayla's gemstones, mere inches from their unprotected hides. Then the flames came together and Shayla shot them straight up the tunnel into the doorway they were rushing into. It detonated and they flew out amidst a spray of steam and debris, flew out into the sunshine and down the wooded slope. 

The wind shield cushioned their fall, after a fashion. But when it collapsed everyone fell to the rocky ground, scattering in a heap. Alielle fell down on top of Makoto's bad shoulder and he cried out. She just winced, still clutching her side. At least she had not landed on that side. He levered himself up painfully, helping Alielle up too. "Hey, are you okay?" 

She smiled bravely. "I guess so, how are-" 

"Stupid crazy bitch!" Afura was kneeling beside a stunned Shayla, madly shaking her by the shoulders. Makoto had never heard her raise her voice at her old friend before, even when they were sniping at each other. She had finally reached her breaking point. "Did you even think about what you were doing? Did you really think that was going to work? Are you insane or just suicidal?" She was ranting without waiting for an answer, but a second later it didn't matter. 

Makoto had seen films of underground nuclear tests. Being there was an utterly different thing. All the dust and loose soil on the ground was kicked straight up into the air by the bucking ground, but more to the point so were all the people lying there. Every square inch of his body including his eardrums ached as if from a hammerblow. He hit the ground again but by then he hardly felt it. A raging white geyser belched out of the tunnel mouth and angled up into the gray sky over his head. Then it was being swallowed up by a looming shadow. The great block of granite the tunnel opened up onto was about to roll onto them. His mind was too stunned to register anything other than a vague sense of irony. 

Their new rock ceiling halted just a few feet above his face. Nearby, the reason for this stood straining and quivering. Fujisawa's battle aura was a physical thing now, dancing about him like a golden corona. Everyone huddled in the shadow of their great huge parasol. Clouds of dust washed through their little island of calm as the avalanche raged all around them. So this was why nuclear tests were done under salt flats. Makoto closed his stinging eyes, hacking and coughing into a hand that was doing nothing to keep the roiling dust out. "Everyone out!" Fujisawa gasped. It didn't sound like it was over, but Makoto scrambled out from under the huge rock anyway. So did everybody else. They slipped and slid through the undulating gravel, dodging a few rocks that were still bouncing and tumbling down the slope. He looked back up just in time to see Fujisawa thrust the rock up and dive out towards them. If his legs had been an inch longer they would have been clipped short by the great thick slab of rock that crashed into the ground. It slid ominously down towards them, but ground to a halt just a few feet from where Fujisawa lay panting and coughing. 

Makoto staggered to his feet. It was an utterly different landscape now. The forest that had covered the mountainside mostly lay in ruins now, just a few sturdy clumps of trees having been bypassed by the avalanches stood here and there. A haze of dust hung over everything, they were all still coughing and wheezing. 

When she stopped spitting up dust, Shayla interrogated everyone in the group as quickly as she could, making sure everyone was more or less okay. Even Afura just gave a grunted affirmation that she was still alive. It seemed she didn't feel like railing on Shayla any more. The anxious, dusty priestess turned her attention to Makoto last. After he grunted his answer she just stared at him with a pained expression, as if noticing his hastily bandaged shoulder and blood soaked shirt for the first time. She shook her head and sighed. "Oh man, she's going to kill me when she sees this." She seemed to regret her words right away. But Makoto managed to give her a smile that said it was okay. He hadn't stopped thinking of her for a moment, not since he had seen her disappear into the sky. He looked to where the moon should be, but there were clouds. 

"Shayla." It was Fujisawa, come back down to rejoin the group. "This whole slope is still going to be unstable, we should get down off it as soon as we can." 

"Good idea. Can you carry Alielle?" 

He grinned. "If I had something to carry you in I'd give you all a ride." 

"I think the rest of us can manage." She shielded her eyes with her hand and peered down into the valley below. "Any bets on whether our cars got buried?" 

They hadn't. But it took several detours around rock slides to get them out of the valley. By that time they were passing a stream of speeding emergency vehicles headed back up to the site of the explosion. Somewhere along the way, Makoto dozed off. He dreamed of reaching out for a blood-red moon hanging in the sky like the glowing eye of a malevolent god. 

___****___ 

The silent television added its flickering light to the soft glow of the ceiling night light. Even at three in the morning the tireless news reporters were scrambling to tell the world what little they knew about the strange, apocalyptic events that had struck the island nation. Makoto had watched enough of it in the evening that turning the sound up would have been redundant. Besides, he didn't want to disturb the ones who were managing to get some sleep. 

A shadow came out of the hallway into the living room, resolving itself into Nanami's smiling face. "Hey. Anything new?" 

He shook his head. "Not really watching," he said truthfully, also in a hushed tone. 

She pulled her yukata tighter around herself and sat down beside him on the couch. "How's the shoulder?" 

"Okay. The painkillers help." 

"You want something from the kitchen?" 

"No, I'm fine." 

She frowned at him in disapproval. "You didn't eat much yesterday." 

He looked away. "Really, I'm fine." 

She sighed. He was surprised to feel her fingers lightly stroking the hair on the back of his head. "I know how scared you are," she said softly. "The rest of us believe in her, you should too." 

He sat rigidly, staring straight ahead. "Miz must be getting worried. Maybe she'll be able to convince the Ifurita there to go back to Rostalia with her. She can learn to merge with the Eye of God, learn about the wormholes." 

"She won't need to," Nanami said, still stroking his hair. "Your Ifurita will bring Miz back to us. Even Fujisawa knows that." 

"He's scared too, he just doesn't show it much." It was the wrong thing to say, but Makoto wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying. 

"You know, the last time we played out this scene you were the one trying to convince me we would all meet again." 

"That was because you were blaming yourself." 

"So you really didn't believe it?" 

Makoto's love for his childhood friend, his desire not to let her down again, gave him the motivation to take a little step out of his quiet misery. He took her hand and faced her. "Nanami, I'm more grateful than I can say..." 

She stopped him with a finger held just in front of his lips. Her smile was sad and regretful. "But you have to get through this on your own. Until she returns you stand alone." 

"I'm sorry." 

"Don't be." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Just promise to let us help you when you do need it." 

"I promise." 

She left him. He wished he had said more, but he just didn't have it in him right now. He let his head fall back and closed his eyes. The anxiety was being gradually dulled by simple weariness. He hadn't slept since the hospital. The ache in his now more carefully bandaged shoulder had little to do with that. As the previous day had worn on his dulled mind had begun to hatch all sorts of strange fantasies. Even if she were dead, the Ifurita on El Hazard would eventually learn to use the wormholes, she would come here one day. He would tell her to go back in time, wait on the moon, save his Ifurita. Surely it would be possible. Some time ago he had once played with an ancient El Hazard computer and tried to figure out what would happen if he actually did something like that, tried to change a history he had already lived. He wasn't sure he believed the answers he got. 

Did he have it in him? Could he risk destroying everything for her? 

He had hardly given any thought to what would happen if it was the other who returned. The plain fact was, he just couldn't bring himself to care. In an abstract way he wondered what she would do. Her allies were probably all dead. For a variety of reasons they were staying in the apartment, but in fact the risk of there still being living Phantom Tribe left on Earth was the least of those. Would Erinyes wreak bloody vengeance or would she just leave? Would she even bother to come tell him what had become of Ifurita? Nothing would be worse than just not knowing. 

The others had been helping him in little, quiet ways. He was just starting to see that now. Mostly it was just an encouraging smile or a small kindness, like an offered meal he would politely refuse. More often than that it was just an acceptance of his need to be alone. But of course he would never be alone... not unless he were foolish enough to choose it. Maybe, maybe one day that would be enough. 

He opened his eyes and stared at the television again. It silently replayed the brief news conferences of the previous day, men in suits solemnly assuring the country there was no need to panic and they were doing everything to uncover the truth. Very soon after the explosion everyone was talking about, a volcano had come to life at the other end of the country, forcing the evacuation of a village. It looked like that would be the only one, but it just underscored how near a thing it had been. Of course everyone was thinking all these events must be related, but nobody could imagine how. 

All this made him think of the Chief Inspector, who had caught up with them before they left the hospital. He and Nanami had filled him in... there was no reason to lie to him any more. Of course there was little he could do with the information, none but the poor hapless officer who had accompanied him to El Hazard would believe him. Makoto mused upon how frustrating that must be for a policeman. 

Of course the first thing he and Nanami had done upon arriving here was to call their parents, something they had done every day since going into hiding. He only told them three lies. The Phantom Tribe had only wanted to rule the humans from the shadows, not destroy them. Ifurita had wiped them out by herself. And yes of course she would be back soon she was just out making sure there were none of the enemy left alive. It was a delicate game, this hiding in plain sight. 

Eventually he did get up and make himself a snack. There had been another time when not even painful hunger could motivate him to do something about it. But he remembered how energizing it had felt to finally let his body's needs win over his soul's despair. His body had rewarding him, feeding him the energy he needed to help break out of his slump. He would do the same again. He was in no worse position than then, after all. If she did not come back to him then he would have to go find her, it was as simple as that. If all of time and space stood between them, what of it? 

For now he would focus on more immediate matters. He should gather Ifurita's research from her computers and pass it on to the Chief Inspector. Perhaps the Inspector could make quiet inquiries... they were assuming all of the suspected dopplegangers had retreated to the nest, but they should try and confirm it. Makoto walked over to the bulletin board, where the carefully arranged portfolios were still pinned. He thought of these dead men and their families who would never know the truth. Perhaps he should try and tell them something, it seemed the least he could do. He would have to discuss it with the others. 

There was a rap at the window. He turned to look and was frozen in place. 

She stood on the balcony with her hand upon the glass, a shadow barely lit by the room's dim light, unmoving. Makoto staggered, almost fell, overwhelmed by the shock. He made his way haltingly over to the window, never taking his eyes from her for a moment. He stood there before her, still unable to believe. Her face was like a dim will-o'-the-wisp floating outside the window. But when she blinked and a silvery tear trickled down her cheek the illusion was broken. She was no ghost. His hand came up of its own volition, pressed against the glass opposite hers. Her face, his mirror, held such profound relief. "Ifurita..." 

Her dark lips mouthed his name. It finally occurred to him that he should open the door. His hand groped for the latch, unaided by his eyes that would not leave hers. He threw the latch and slid the door aside. His vision swam and blurred but it didn't matter anymore, she was in his arms and now they were both softly weeping, giving vent to their relief and joy. He crushed her to him, burying his face in her silvery hair, felt her cling to him just as desperately. Her staff had fallen unnoticed to the carpet. His shoulder muscles quivered with the sharp pain and he just didn't care at all. 

He wanted to see her face again. He moved his hands to her shoulders. She read the signal and stepped back ever so slightly. He gazed at her tear-streaked face just an inch from his. "You're burned," he said in a soft, husky voice. He brought up one hand and laid it delicately around the darkened, rough skin on her face. 

"It will heal." One of her hands slid up his body and settled lightly on his bad shoulder. "You've been stabbed." 

"It will heal." They both grinned and let out quick, breathy laughs like sobs. They brought their foreheads together and stood in a loose embrace. He could see that much of her clothes had been burned away. What had been jeans and a flannel shirt hung in black tatters, exposing more burned skin, barely healing. Once again she had returned to him barefoot and in rags. "Does that hurt?" 

"No. But I can tell yours does." 

"I've hardly noticed. All I could think about was you." 

She just stood smiling at him for a moment, basking in the miracle reunion. Barely perceptible in the dim light, he saw a shadow pass across her face. "Makoto... how is everyone?" 

"Everyone's fine. Alielle broke a rib, everyone else just got cuts and bruises." 

"I went to the nest first. It was obvious what had happened, even from altitude. I feared the worst. When I saw you here, I-" Her voice choked up. He leaned forward and they kissed. They held onto it, letting it say what words could not. 

Makoto held her close to him, his eyes, his hands, his body demanding affirmation of her presence. "I... I don't think I'm every going to be able to let you out of my sight again." 

She wiped away his tears with a gentle stroke of her thumbs. "I feel the same way." She smiled. "I think I shall even have to wait outside the door when you go to pass water." 

"I think we'll be smothering each other for a while." Then the cold reality of what he must ask her abruptly broke through his tranquil buzz, disturbing the timeless moment. He could already see her reacting to the change in his mood. "Ifurita, is Erinyes dead?" 

Her reaction was much stronger than he had expected. She averted her haunted eyes. "Yes." 

He kissed her near one of her glistening, misty eyes. "I'm sorry. Would you prefer not to talk about it?" 

She shook her head, indicating the contrary. It seemed that for a moment she was gathering her courage. Then she began speaking in a calm, even tone. "When we landed on the surface I tried reasoning with her again. In the vacuum I had to open a radio link. She would not even respond to it. She just stood there, waiting. She looked like she had... prepared herself. She fully expected to die, and at best take me with her. I think she would have waited forever. But I couldn't wait, I had to get back as quickly as I could, in case you needed my help." 

Makoto could sense what was coming next. He caressed the side of her face lightly. "Oh, Ifurita..." 

She nodded, affirming his guess. "I attacked her. As she had warned, she gave no quarter. It was a very near thing. But their repairs of her systems were incomplete. Her shield malfunctioned. It was over in an instant, there... was little left save her head. I touched her, linked with her. It was only for a moment, I doubt she was even conscious. I just sensed feelings, vague thoughts, then nothing." 

"So she never spoke to you," Makoto said in a strained voice, knowing how painful that must be to her. 

"She never spoke, but I did sense something in her thoughts directed at me. I'm not sure I can call it forgiveness, just understanding. There had been people in her past, friends and lovers, who she considered soul mates. She understood why I would do anything to protect you and your world. She felt the same way." 

Makoto was sickened by what occurred to him next. "Did she find a soul mate among the Phantom Tribe?" 

"No. I thought it might be that, what I sensed was very confusing. Something had happened to her when she was on their homeworld. I puzzled over it on the long journey back. I'm still not sure I understand it properly, but she came upon an immensely old presence there which she associated with the entire world. I don't know if it was the planet itself or some gestalt mind of its inhabitants, I don't know if it even makes sense to ask the question. Whatever it was, she fell in love with it. That ancient mind became her soul mate." 

"And the Eye of God took her from it," Makoto said. 

"Yes. But more than that, it had assaulted her soul mate not once but twice, wounding it deeply. That she could not forgive. Before that I think she had felt just sadness at all the follies of man she had observed, now she felt anger. But even then it was not really revenge she sought, else she would have taken it upon Rostalia. She could have razed it to the ground before I or anybody else could do anything. But it may even have been she who convinced the Phantom Tribe to come to Earth. She probably felt they had a better chance of turning this world into a mirror of the one they had lost." 

"Why did she not just go back?" Makoto asked. 

"On their homeworld she had put herself into hibernation. I'm not sure why, I got the impression she had already offered her world everything she could, further time with her soul mate would have been... redundant. It was as if she felt she had to bring something more to offer if she were to return. She would bring it the story of the new world she had created." 

Makoto shook his head in confusion. "This... gestalt mind, her soul mate, why would it care? You told me about what Erinyes said, when you brought Ai-chan back. They... it wasn't interested in colonizing other worlds. It doesn't fit." 

"She didn't think of it as a colony, Makoto. After thinking about it I recognized the sort of anticipation she was feeling for the world she would give birth to here. I saw it in the eyes of Fujisawa and Miz when I brought Ai back to them. What Erinyes wanted was to present her soul mate with a child." 

Makoto's mind was numbed at the thought. "A whole planet?" 

"Having a child is an option that is closed to our kind, both by our altered genes and our altered bodies. I think somewhere along the way Erinyes came to regret that." She smiled sadly, reacting to the look of anxiety Makoto knew he was unable to keep off his face. They had only ever spoken of this once, he had told her truthfully that it did not matter. But secretly he had worried about how she felt about it. She stroked the side of his face as if to help allay his fears. "I have a child now," she said softly, "Thanks to Miz and Fujisawa. It is more than I could ever want. I only wish-" 

He put a finger to her lips and smiled. "You're right. It's enough." He kissed her, wanting just to express his affection and contentment. But she held him more tightly, pressed him closer. He responded in kind, his body starting the climb up the enticing path they had ascended together so often. But he felt somehow this was coming too early. She seemed to sense his hesitation. They moved slightly apart and she smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, I should be more mindful of your injury." 

Yes, there was that too. But he still longed to be close to her. "Why don't I help you out of those rags? You could probably do with a bath, too." 

"Would you join me?" 

"It would be a tight squeeze." 

"So much the better." They kissed again, this time more gently. It was a mutual agreement that this would be a quiet, gentle moment they would share. Right now what they both needed was just the comfort of each other's presence. 

"Oh my God, she's back!" Makoto jumped at Alielle's outcry, turned to see her walking quickly towards them. She was still in no shape to run, so Makoto actually had time to get out of the way. The short girl wrapped her arms around Ifurita as tightly as her injury would allow. She buried her face into Ifurita's bosom and cried like a little girl. Makoto sighed. He pulled the cord for the ceiling light and the brighter fluorescent bulb flickered to life. He could better see how much of a mess Ifurita looked. She shared a brief smile with Makoto then went back to stroking Alielle's wavy hair. He moved further out of the way, in anticipation of what was to come. Sure enough the other women came scurrying into the room. Most were madly wrapping robes around themselves. Shayla hadn't bothered. So, that was how she slept. It was nothing he hadn't seen before, he reminded himself. And she didn't seem bothered... like the others, the moment she caught sight of Ifurita she cried out and ran across the room. In seconds they had her surrounded, all squealing, laughing or crying. He was afraid Ifurita would become flustered. But incredibly she looked to be more at peace than he had ever seen her. It was a homecoming, that was reason enough. 

He felt a hand come down on his good shoulder. Fujisawa wore his trademark crooked smile. "Looks like you'll have to wait your turn, Makoto." 

"As soon as I can pry her loose we'll go pick up Miz and the baby." 

He winked. "I think you can take some time to get her cleaned up. If she shows up looking like that Miz will have a fit." 

Makoto and Ifurita did get their quiet time together, if only briefly. It was Makoto who took Fujisawa to pick up his wife and child. Perhaps Ifurita felt this still was not the time to meet the twin who had been caring for Miz. Makoto did not ask. 

___****___ 

Makoto saw Alielle get up from her cushion and ping her wineglass with her spoon. She had complete freedom of movement now, which was good to see. The hubbub at the long dining table quickly died down, and all eyes were on the smiling girl in her school uniform. At least it was the right one now... despite all the sliding windows being moved aside to admit the evening breeze, everyone was sweating a little from the summer heat. 

Alielle cleared her throat. "Good friends never need a reason to share food and drink. But today we do have good reason for gathering here. First, we are celebrating Makoto and Ifurita returning to their beautiful house." She inclined her head towards the couple sitting opposite her. "Those of us who are now of both Rostalia and Earth have always been warmly welcomed here. Just as we are happy for our two dear friends, we are grateful to have our second home back again. We hope that no troubles will ever keep us from it again." 

Her high, bright voice now picked up an even more cheerful note. "But just as importantly we are here to welcome our friends and family here on Earth who have been so kind to us. They have helped us in bad times so now we would like them to share our good times. Since this is the first time we have all gathered together at one time it is perhaps not inappropriate for me to welcome and acknowledge our guests more fully than we have done." 

She looked over at an elderly but hale looking, stocky Caucasian man. "We are grateful to Professor Peter Fedorov mostly for helping our friend Ifurita through a very difficult time in her life. He used his genius and his heart to help her see the thing that the rest of us already knew, that she is just as human as the rest of us." There were happy sounds of approval all around. Ifurita closed her eyes and blushed. Alielle carried on. "Since then the rest of us have found in him a new friend with many qualities to appreciate. He makes killer cabbage rolls, plays a mean game of chess and is the only person we know who can come even close to drinking Fujisawa Sensei and Shayla under the table." Fedorov laughed loudest of all. Shayla looked just a little embarrassed. Fujisawa squirmed under his wife's steely gaze. Perhaps she had not been aware of these little excursions her husband had been taking with some of the others. 

Alielle's gaze passed over to a middle-aged man with a craggy face and in a somewhat nicer suit. "Most of us here first saw Chief Inspector Watanabe's stern face from across a table in a dreary little interview room downtown. Back then of course he had every reason to believe that we were nothing but a pack of very clever liars. For a man so diligent in his pursuit of the truth it must have been a very trying experience. But I think we can all attest that through all that he always treated us in a gentlemanly fashion. After finally coming to share our little secret he became a steadfast friend and a staunch ally. Tempering his devotion to the truth and the law with heart and compassion, he has done much to allow us to continue our semi-secret lives here in our second home. Not the least of which was putting in a good word for me last week when my school wanted to expel me for assaulting a creep who deserved no better." Even Makoto laughed a little at that one. The unlucky creep in question was a student who had made some unwelcome comment about Alielle and her new girlfriend. Despite her still nursing a healing rib he hadn't had a prayer. But they heard he would be okay, he was even walking a little now. 

She looked now at Makoto's parents. "Most everyone including myself who has come to know Makoto has come to adore him. When we first met his mother and father it was obvious to see where his finest qualities had come from. They have had to endure much because of the strings of fate that brought their son to our world. First his disappearance, then the long wait for his return, and most recently worrying over him when he was helping us to deal with the enemies who had followed us from our world. But throughout it all they have been very supportive to him and very welcoming to all of us. In fact, from what I've heard they didn't even bat an eye when their son told them he had brought back a wife from another planet who was ten thousand years older than he was." Amidst the laughter, Makoto shared a fond smile with his mother and father. His hand slipped into Ifurita's, and he felt her squeeze back. It had been a worrying moment for both of them, when Makoto had presented his alien bride to his parents. But it was as Alielle said, they had welcomed her arrival as no less a blessed event than his. 

"I myself confess that I adored Nanami from the first moment I saw her." There was a particular glint in her eyes. "She's sweet and bright and just too, too adorable for words." Nanami blushed. She looked something like a deer caught in headlights. "When I met her charming father and her simply gorgeous mother it was easy to see where she got her brains and looks. They too have endured much so that their daughter could come to our world and help save it alongside her friends. On top of everything else they have endured the pain of a son gone astray despite all they have given him. Let us join them in hoping that our world will one day offer him the experience that will bring this tragic phase of delinquency to an end once and for all." What could have been an awkward moment was dispelled instantly by the knowing smile that Alielle shared with Nanami's parents. Everyone including them were hoping what Nanami's brother would experience was a speedy demise. He remembered his own first meeting with Nanami's parents soon after their return to Earth. The phrases 'he was the mistake' and 'wish I'd never borne him' had been heard more than once. But then again, Makoto had been hearing that since childhood, so in fact not much had changed. 

Alielle next turned her attention to the starry-eyed young man who had been spending all evening excitedly grilling Afura about everything from Rostalian military history to the geology of Mount Muldoon. "We have Fleet Admiral Hayashi to thank for the fame and notoriety we enjoy on this world. Thanks to his efforts my cute face adorns the covers of millions of manga and millions of anime box covers all across the country. Of all the old friends with whom Makoto has become reacquainted, he has been the only one to realize the truth behind all the stories of El Hazard he has helped bring to this land. Whether this has more to do with his sharp wits or his charming gullibility is a matter of debate. Be that as it may, I am grateful to him for arranging a thoroughly enjoyable trip to Komike for my girlfriend and me, we had a wonderful time." Makoto had not found out about that trip to the comic convention until after the fact. He still wasn't happy, but he had to admit no harm had been done. Of course Alielle had brought one of her outfits from Rostalia to wear. Apparently her girlfriend had come dressed as Fatora, which was more than a little ironic. 

Finally, Alielle looked down fondly at the pretty young girl sitting beside her. Her Earthling girlfriend was a petite, athletic looking girl not much taller than her, with bright, intelligent dark eyes and a ready smile. She wore her short hair in a pageboy style, and wore the same uniform as Alielle. "As our class president, it was Ikuko's responsibility to help me get settled in to my new school. I think being put in that class was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. Almost since the day I was introduced to her we've become inseparable. After our troubles were done, she was here every day helping nurse me back to health. Even after she figured out I had been telling a little white lie about where I came from, she treated me with nothing but love and kindness. She has made each and every day I've spent here wonderful." Ikuko reached up and took the hand that Alielle extended, smiling shyly. She had been a regular visitor to the house for months now, Makoto and the others had come to know her quite well. He liked her a lot. She was quiet and soft-spoken. But her self-effacing nature hid a sharp intelligence and a strong will. He could almost believe the story that she had figured out for herself where Alielle really came from. She had been a stabilizing influence for Alielle, gently curbing her excesses when she would otherwise let her capricious nature get the better of her. She had been the one to prevent Alielle from permanently crippling the boy who had made the comment about deviant dykes. She even took Alielle's roving eye in stride. It was hard to imagine a more complete contrast to Alielle's Rostalian lover. 

Alielle released Ikuko's hand and raised her glass high. "So to all our friends here on Earth who have shared our secrets and our troubles we say thanks. Now please share food, drink and companionship with us, tonight and as long as long as providence grants us. Kampai!" 

"Kampai!" everyone returned, raising high various containers of sake, beer, wine, champagne, vodka or pop, then either taking sips or tossing them back as each saw appropriate. 

Very quickly the ebb and flow of conversations resumed. Eventually they became particularly loud and Makoto and Ifurita just happened not to be in any of them at that moment. "I'm glad we asked Alielle to make the toast," he commented. 

"I agree, it was very nice." 

"Too bad you couldn't convince your sister to come." 

"She was grateful for the invitation. In fact she suggested we have a gathering in her stronghold." 

Makoto was surprised. In deference to her privacy, only his Ifurita had visited her fellow Demon God since they had gone to collect Miz and the baby. "She wouldn't mind?" 

"As long as it was only people we trust. There is still much dangerous technology in her stronghold, she feels responsible for guarding it. I think we should. She's finished repairing the main house, and much of the garden has been restored." 

"Well, it wouldn't be all of us," he reminded her. 

"Not unless you change your mind, dear." 

He knew what she was referring to. They had agreed that each of them would have veto power over bringing anyone through the wormholes. Makoto still had less faith than Ifurita that any side-effect of wormhole travel would be beneficial or at least benign. He had only to think of what Jinnai had done with his power. True, the power would have been a benign one in the hands of anyone with an ounce of integrity, but still he was nervous about the idea. "I'll give it some thought," he promised her. 

She smiled. "You are right to be cautious. But sometimes you should temper reason with faith." 

He looked at her suspiciously. "You're being very metaphysical tonight." He glanced at her wineglass. Half full. 

"My first and last," she assured him. 

For which he was relieved. "You know, even Afura says it will be generations before her order can incorporate the wormholes and the multiverse into their cosmology and theology. Her faith in them is a personal one." 

"As is mine. They brought us together, I know that much." 

He grinned and squeezed her hand. They also allowed two worlds to be nearly destroyed by those who turned them to weapons. But he kept that thought to himself. "Well, I suppose as long as Peter doesn't try to see if he can link minds with your sister. She might misunderstand." 

She brought a hand up to her mouth and chuckled. "You know, he might just try that." 

"What, you think that's funny? How would she react if it actually worked?" 

"I think she would be delighted. She enjoyed the glimpses she got of your memories." 

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? She never told me." 

"She was respecting your privacy. But she did say she would like it if you could teach her more about your world." 

Makoto wasn't sure about the idea of another link. He now had some memories that were rather too intimate to share. "Too bad I couldn't bring her here and show her around." 

"Well, she did say an excursion was not out of the question, as long as I took her place guarding the stronghold." She grinned, and continued in a louder voice. "I've been meaning to tell you, your Ifurita and I traded places last month, didn't you notice?" 

"WHAT?" He barely broke his fall with an outstretched hand. There had been a lull in the other conversations, now there was total silence and everyone was staring at them. 

Ifurita scrunched up her eyes and cocked her head. "Uso." 

Nanami was the first to lose it. That opened the floodgates. For almost a full minute there was nothing but raucous laughter. Makoto's shock and horror slowly bled away. What indignation he might feel was swallowed up by Ifurita's glowing, innocent face. 

He grinned. "Nice try, but you'd never be able to pull that off." 

"I don't know," Nanami challenged. "From where I was sitting it looked like she really had you going." 

"Well, I know something you would know if you were more observant." 

"And what is that?" Nanami asked. 

"They've all got serial numbers tattooed on them. Would you like me to tell you where?" 

Ifurita's eyes went wide. "We do...?" 

He scrunched his eyes and cocked his head. "Uso." 

Things spiraled further out of control from there. The beginning of the end came when Shayla declared this karaoke night. They alternated between the couples belting out enkai duets, the Earthlings doing old Beatles tunes and the priestesses cavorting to the latest idol singer numbers. Those more reluctant were brought to the stage with a little help from some liquid courage. One by one the guests reached the end of their endurance and Makoto called cabs for them. The house guests lasted a bit longer before staggering off to their rooms one by one. 

Just when Makoto was thinking things had gone fairly smoothly all things considered, he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see a rosy-cheeked Alielle smiling sweetly up at him. "I thought you'd gone to bed already." 

"I am. Just thought I'd let you know, Shayla's been spiking Ifurita's drinks." 

He sighed. "Oh no." 

"I'm sure you can handle it. G'night." 

He walked back into the living room, where most of the lights had been doused and the open windows let in the cooling night air. Shayla was on a couch with her arm around a more or less comatose Ifurita, slurring her way through a song, thankfully without benefit of microphone. 

"...What do ya do with a drunken Demon, 

"What do ya do with a drunken Demon, 

"Run for the hills 'til she gets sober, 

"Run for the hills 'til she gets sober... hey 'Frita, c'mon, help me out here." 

Makoto bent over them. "I think I should take her to bed now." 

"What, already? What time izzit?" 

"It's oh-dark hundred sharp." 

Shayla giggled. "Thas' funny." 

"Glad you think so." He bent down over Ifurita's other side, brought one of her arms around his neck and hooked his hand under her armpit. "Okay, up you come." 

"Mm?" Ifurita's eyes were still closed, but she was sort of standing on her own. He had found on previous occasions that even when she was comatose certain autonomic functions would still work after a fashion. 

"Nighty night..." Shayla called as he slowly led Ifurita away. He remembered the first time they found out the Demon God's bio-filters were permeable to alcohol. Shayla had said something that upset her and an energy bolt meant for the priestess had blown a hole in the wall. Since then Ifurita had put internal encrypted locks on her battle systems that would require the full concentration of a sober mind to unlock. 

"I'm sorry Makoto," she said in very clearly enunciated but toneless words. Her speech was another thing that got a hand from her implants when she needed it. "Your mommy and daddy must think I'm a very irrepressible wife." 

"Irrepressible?" Makoto asked. 

"Oh. I mean irresponsible, don't I?" 

"I guess. Don't worry, they left early." 

"That's right. I forgot. But I'm still an irrepressible wife, aren't I?" 

"No, you just trust Shayla too much." He steered her carefully through their bedroom door. 

"Aw, Shayla just wanted me to have fun." 

"I'm sure. Come on, here's the bed." 

She giggled and wrapped her arms around him. "You going to bed with me?" 

"Ifuri-" she smothered him with a sloppy kiss that she just wouldn't let go of. She put not much finesse but all her heart and soul into it, making it very hard not to respond. 

Finally she broke away and smiled up at him with heavy-lidded eyes. "You're trying to seduce me. I can tell you know." 

"I'm trying to put you to bed." 

"There you see? I knew it." 

"Would you please be a good girl and fall back onto the bed so you can pass out peacefully?" 

She cluck-clucked and wagged her finger. "You can't lie to me. That's what's good about having a male lover." She groped him in the right place and he grunted. "I can always measure your degree of... interest. There is a readily available barometer." 

"I've never heard it called that before. Anyway, I bet you can't even get undressed by yourself." 

"I can if you help me." 

"You have to lie down first." 

He had her down to her underwear before he heard gentle snoring. He laid a blanket over her and went out to see if there was anything that should be put away or cleaned up. He found Alielle in the kitchen unloading glasses from a tray. "I thought you were going to bed." 

"I was just putting away anything people might trip over in the dark." 

"Good idea." He glanced over to the living room on the other side of the open counter. "Where's Shayla?" 

"I put her to bed." 

He sighed. "I'll have to have a talk with her tomorrow, not that I think it will do any good." 

"I've got a better idea. Tomorrow morning I can arrange for a major collection of kitchen utensils to come crashing down right beside her." 

He winced, imagining the state she would be in tomorrow. "If that doesn't teach her a lesson I don't know what will. Did Ikuko get home okay?" 

"Yep. I rode with her and took her taxi back, like you suggested. Thanks again for inviting her, she had a really great time." 

He smiled. "You know she's always welcome." He wondered if this was a good time to broach another subject. Alcohol could loosen the tongue, might as well take advantage of that. "Alielle, what have you told her about Fatora?" 

"I told her that what she read in the manga is true. I'm her concubine." 

"She's okay with that?" 

"Sure. It's my job, after all." 

Makoto looked askance at her. "Alielle..." 

"Okay, okay." She held her arms up, holding off his lecture. "I... sort of made it sound like it was just my job. Don't worry, I've got it all under control." 

"You think so?" 

"Sure. I got the inspiration from an old movie I saw on late night television. Did you ever see Captain's Paradise?" 

Makoto nodded hesitantly. He did recall seeing it years ago. It was an old Alec Guinness movie about a ferryboat captain who had a wife at each of his two ports of call. Then it clicked. "Alielle... this could be a dangerous game you're playing. Especially since Fatora is involved." 

"I wouldn't do anything to hurt either Fatora or Ikuko. I love them both to pieces. If I broke up with either one she'd be heartbroken." 

Makoto was sure there must be some flaw in that logic, he was just too tired to find it. "Well, as long as you're all happy. I'll help you clean up." 

There wasn't much left to do. When they were done, Makoto went back to his bedroom. Ifurita was still sprawled right in the middle of the bed, where she would no doubt be for a few hours. At least she didn't get hangovers. Now all he had to worry about was keeping her from killing Shayla tomorrow. 

But he would think of something. He always did. 

End Chapter 5 

Next Chapter: Forever 


	6. Default Chapter Title

This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction based on the El Hazard series. Note that it is based on the continuity of the two OAV series and the second television series "The Alternative World". It certainly contains spoilers for the first OAV series, and a few for the second OAV series. At this point, six chapters are planned. Though I call them "chapters" they are more or less independent stories (which is what I said about my Sailor Moon stories, so you're free to believe as much of that as you like). 

El Hazard and characters therein were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura, and brought to North America by Pioneer LDC. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply. I'll give this one a PG rating. 

Ken Wolfe 

Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca 

El Hazard - Earth Chapter 6 - Forever 

"Are you cold?" Ifurita asked. 

Makoto came up closer behind her and enveloped her with his arms. "Just a little. But that's good. It should be a little cold here. Wouldn't be right if it weren't." 

Ifurita turned her head enough for him to see her impish smile. "Don't distract me too much, love." 

It was a joke of course. But if he did seriously distract her their invisible shield might drop and it would get a whole lot colder. Anyway, her smile was something he had seen too little of lately. He only wished he could see her better. The pre-dawn glow in front of them was just starting to drown out the starlight. "Not long now." 

"Four minutes." 

The refracted light with which the sun announced its imminent emergence was starting to bring out some highlights of the stark terrain spread out below them. Ifurita had chosen their vantage point well, it was going to be spectacular. "Do you know how old I was when I first dreamt of watching the sunrise from here? I couldn't have been more than ten." 

"We could have come any time," Ifurita said. 

"Well, it's not like we haven't been occupied. It never really entered my mind until recently." 

She lifted her hands up and rested them on his. "This won't be the last time, you know." 

Ah. So that's what was bothering her. He leaned his head lightly against hers. "I know, Ifurita," he said gently. "I know. We're just crossing another threshold, that's all. The next time we're here, it will be... different." 

She squeezed his hands. "The important things will be the same." 

"So they will." They stood in silence now, a silence they both knew would last until the sun had cleared the horizon. A little gleam of light caught his eye and he looked down. The ring on Ifurita's finger had caught the light of the emerging dawn. The ring he had given her on their silver anniversary five years ago. A simple band of silver with a tiny twist where a stone would normally have been. It had reminded him of a Moebius strip, that was why he had bought it for her. The Moebius strip defied intuitive topology, a twist of space which turned two sides into one. Just like the twist of time and space which had brought them together and tied two hearts into one. On that milestone, as on this one, he had wanted to do something special. So they had climbed Everest. Well, not exactly... all but the last hundred yards had been scaled with the help of wormholes and levitation. 

They were on the eve of another milestone today. As they waited for the sun to appear, Makoto's thoughts drifted back to the many others they had shared over the past few years. Remembrances flashed across his mind's eye like snapshots from a long story all strung together... 

-------------------------------------------------------------- 

Shayla set her glass down just hard enough to cause some of the whiskey sour to slosh out. "What? You mean once they've left that's it?" 

"We told you that a long time ago," Afura said, sounding very annoyed. 

Shayla snorted in derision. "I remember Miz' wedding. The party went on 'til dawn. We're supposed to be cheering them on, right?" 

"Well, we've prepared the guest rooms at our place," Makoto said. "When the ceremony is done we can go back there and have an all-night party if you like." 

"Now that's more like it! Your weddings over here look more like funerals." 

"Hey, enough of that talk," Nanami said, bopping Shayla on the arm. "It's bad luck." 

"Wrapping up the reception before sunset has got to be bad luck," Shayla retorted. "Are all weddings on Earth like this?" 

"Japanese weddings have the distinction of being among the most expensive and also among the shortest." He should know. He had arranged for the transfer of gold from El Hazard, and the financing of the wedding. And this one was a beauty. He looked out across the huge banquet hall. It seemed that Ai and her husband had invited pretty much everybody they knew, mostly friends from college. You know you're getting older when all the college students start looking like kids. 

"But not many have two honeymoons," Nanami said. 

"True enough." After they got back from Hawaii, Ifurita would be taking her goddaughter and son-in-law to Rostalia. It wouldn't be the first time. He had known about her true origins for years. Their courtship had started all the way back in middle school. Nobody had been surprised when they announced their intentions. He was likely the major reason she had chosen this world as her true home. 

Makoto noticed Kauru walking over from the other table of Rostalian guests. Like all of them she was in Earth style formal wear. To most people here they were all just friends of Ai's eccentric godmother, it was best to try and keep it that way. She got Ifurita's attention by leaning over her and putting a hand on her bare shoulder. "Ifurita-sama, I think Fujisawa-san and Miz-san will be going to see Ai before the couple leaves." 

"Oh... yes. Thank you for reminding me, Kauru." 

Makoto could see she was going to need some encouragement. He stood up and offered his hand. "Come on, I'll take you over there." 

After just a moment's hesitation, Ifurita took his hand and stood. "Thank you." 

As they made their way slowly between the tables, Makoto lightly patted the hand she had on his arm. "Shame on you, Miz would have been very upset if you hadn't come." 

"I still feel like I'm imposing." 

"What, after twenty years? I don't believe that, what's really on your mind?" 

"I guess I have a different perspective. To me Ai is still barely an infant." 

"Really? You were happy to take me to your bed when I was no older. I'm shocked." 

She regarded him with narrowed eyes but an indulgent smile. "You know what I mean." 

He chuckled. "Trust me, Miz feels exactly the same way." 

The Fujisawas and their new in-laws were already chatting in the anteroom when the two of them arrived. Miz greeted Ifurita with a kiss on the cheek. "Silly girl, I thought you weren't coming. Makoto, you must come say good-bye to Ai and Hiroshi as well." 

"Of course. But I hope you're not intending to make them late for their flight with all these good-byes." 

"Don't be smart," Miz scolded. "You know how I feel about airplanes." 

"It's the safest way to travel," Makoto assured her. It was odd how she thought nothing of traversing the wormholes but cringed at the idea of vehicles held aloft by mere airfoils. Still, Ifurita had agreed to shadow the plane all the way to Honolulu. It was just as well Ai didn't know about that. 

When the happy couple came to say their farewells, Miz did enough crying for all of them. Later at the house party, Makoto managed to catch Afura alone for a little while. "Did you hear anything about the expedition?" She had just come to Earth for the wedding, he hadn't had a chance to speak with her for a while. 

"They all made it back safely. There is activity near the border, more than we thought." 

"Bugrom?" 

Afura hesitated. "They are Bugrom, yet they are not. It's something new. Elena sounded a bit unsure about some things in her debriefing, but she was clearly worried." 

Makoto knew Afura's successor well, she was fastidious to a fault and hard to spook. If the new Great Priestess of the Wind was worried about what she saw, so was he. Perhaps Ai's choice of a homeland was wiser than she knew. He felt bad about thinking that way. 

An arm came around Makoto's neck and put him in a headlock. "Hey, Makoto. Alielle's suggested a game of strip poker. What do you say?" 

A few years ago if Shayla suggested that it would have been in all seriousness. "Thanks but I think I'll pass." 

"Boy, I finally catch you when I know the missus won't be here and you wimp out on me. Fine, we'll play for drinks then." 

Shayla more or less behaved herself, which in recent years had come as a welcome relief to Makoto. She hadn't taken to retirement quite as gracefully as Afura. But she did spend some time helping to whip the next generation of priestesses into shape, which from what Makoto had seen she enjoyed far more than she would admit. 

Ifurita was there when he woke up the next morning. She still sometimes had this unnerving habit of watching him sleep. "I take it they arrived safe and sound?" 

"Yes." 

"So what's bothering you?" 

"The prospect of becoming a grandmother." 

He threw a pillow at her... 

___****___ 

The military road along the Holy River had frequent observation posts, all readily visible. Most were little more than huts, many were fortresses of various sizes. This new one looked unimpressive even for a hut. It was meant to. 

From the spot they had just teleported to, Makoto could easily see the object of everybody's concern, far in the distance on the other side of the immense river. The air was clear and crisp today, so the mountain stood out sharply. He shaded his eyes and squinted. Even with the naked eye he could see signs of the activity there. "Is that scaffolding I'm seeing?" 

"Yes," Ifurita said. "They have telescopes inside." 

Both the guard at the door and the officer within saluted Ifurita when they approached and entered. As the Princess' Champion, she held rank and authority within the legions. The officer took them to the only other room in the building, a bare observation room whose only openings were shaded air vents above and a wide slit where three or four people could sit down and comfortably watch the mountain across the river in Bugrom territory. Makoto took a seat on one of the wooden chairs, picked up a spyglass and put it to his eye. It was already focused at the right distance, not surprisingly. He took several minutes to scan across the vast face of the mountain. The scale of the operation was astonishing. There must have been scores of thousands of laborers picking at the rock face, thousands more hauling rock up and down the crude ramps that angled between the maze of scaffolds. "Does that go on all the time?" he asked. 

"Day and night," the officer answered. "They light torches when it gets dark." 

"It's hard to get an idea of scale... are these Bugrom really no bigger than us?" 

"No bigger. But those packs they carry are full of rocks. Each one of the bugs carries along at least their own weight all day long, but we almost never see one fall or even slow down." 

Makoto put down the spyglass and looked up at the officer. "Have you ever seen them up close?" 

"No, only the priestesses have. We hear the stories, just like everyone else." 

Makoto certainly had heard the stories. They looked just like a different race of human, until you saw one casually leap ten yards. Or until you heard their voices, earsplitting screeches that were at the uttermost limit of human hearing. Or until you got close enough to see their eyes. "So they're just cutting away at the surface." 

"As far as we can see. There's no sign of deep tunneling. Still, we've had sappers at work on this side of the river for months. Just in case." 

Fujisawa had told Makoto about his part in that work. This place was one of the entrances to the tunnel network. "Any guesses what they're doing?" 

"We thought they needed the rock for construction, until we saw them just piling it up all over the place." 

"The Bugrom do not use rock for construction," Ifurita said. "Temporary structures are of secreted resin, more permanent structures are of a ceramic compound they grow in factories." 

"But it would be madness to make a base in full sight of us like this," Makoto said. "They know if we think it's a threat either you or your sister will go pulverize it." 

"I don't believe what they are constructing is a threat." Ifurita sat down in the chair beside his and pointed out through the observation slit. "With your naked eye, look more closely at where they are cutting. Try to imagine it after they have hollowed out those places more extensively. Look at the symmetry of it." 

Ifurita had said she had an idea, but had not elaborated on it. He folded his hands on the table before him and gazed silently at the mountain. He imagined it as Ifurita had asked. After a minute or so, he suddenly gasped and then slapped his forehead. "I don't believe it! Not even him!" 

Ifurita smiled. "It will be only one head. But it will be wider than the four heads carved into Mount Rushmore." 

"Mount what?" the officer asked. When his fit of laughing was done, Makoto explained the extravagant display of hubris and arrogance they were witnessing. The man leaned down to the window and gazed out at the mountain as if for the first time. He shook his head in wonder. "Well I'll be damned. I'd heard that fellow was right full of himself but this is just crazy. Nobody's seen him in years, we all thought he might be dead." 

"Well in a few years' time you'll be able to see his smiling face just by looking out the window." 

The officer stood up straight again, scratching his close-cropped skull in a manner that almost suggested embarrassment. "It sure makes us look like fools, spying on them like this." 

"Not necessarily," Ifurita said. "This could simply be a case of hiding in plain sight." 

Makoto frowned. Ifurita had used that phrase before to describe what was happening here. "Hiding what?" 

"An army of nearly a hundred thousand superhuman soldiers poised right on our border." 

The Alliance council soon decided to move more of the troops from the city garrisons to the border fortresses. Which as it turned out was exactly what the Bugrom wanted them to do... 

___****___ 

"Forget it!" Nanami snapped, pulling her arm from Makoto's grip. "It took me years to build this place, I'm not going to be scared out of it! And don't you dare tell me that you'll just buy me a new one!" 

He had expected reluctance, but not such anger. He had been raising his voice without realizing, it was natural for her to take offense. "I... I'm sorry," he stammered. 

"Makoto, I think you're overreacting," Ifurita said gently. "The troops are maintaining order. It is unlikely there will be any trouble." 

But for the pool of light around the counter the restaurant was in darkness. The other workers had cleaned up quickly and rushed home to beat the curfew. It was just the four of them now. Despite everything, business continued to be brisk. Most people were just trying to carry on, trying to believe that it would all turn out. 

"I hear them coming," Nanami's husband said with an odd mix of relief and trepidation. 

"Yes," Ifurita confirmed. "An armored unit." 

They all moved silently towards the front of the room, hanging back just a bit from the window. Makoto and Nanami each clung instinctively to their alien mates. This was upsetting them even more than the much larger conflict taking place so far away. The clanking, rumbling noise was growing rapidly now, rattling the windows. One after another, the armored personnel carriers filed past them. Each had one soldier with a machine gun at the ready and another standing in an open portal, watching for rioters or looters or worse threats. Except for just before curfew the vehicles generally stayed where they were and the soldiers patrolled the vast city on foot. 

"I can't help thinking I had a part in this," Makoto said. "I brought across the technology that made this possible." 

"No, I believe it was just the opposite," Ifurita said. "From what we've seen, the rebels were able to get as far as they did with ingenious use of more conventional weapons. You may very well have given the police the very tools they needed to avert a disaster." 

The splinter group from the militarists had come within inches of plunging Japan into civil war. The shaky coalition that had emerged in the aftermath of the government's collapse finally had at least the provisional loyalty of most JSDF and police units. A shooting war was looking less and less likely. After weeks of hovering like a sword of Damocles, the American fleet off the coast might be standing down soon. 

"This country has been at peace so long," Nanami's husband said. "Things will be different now. We might find ourselves less welcome." 

"They can't blame foreigners this time," Nanami said bitterly. "We brought this on ourselves." 

Her husband smiled sadly at her. "That will only make the urge to blame outsiders all the stronger." 

He would know. Long after the Phantom Tribe had ceased to be a threat, tribesmen who were captured or who surrendered themselves to the Rostalians faced a lifetime behind bars. Only the few like Shelvin who found powerful citizens to vouch for them were granted freedom and some level of acceptance. Of course that had ended abruptly with the coming of the Second Bugrom War. As he said, it mattered little that the Phantom Tribe played no part in the new threat. The nature of the Bugrom's attack had pushed the wrong buttons, had stirred up bad memories. 

"Nothing shatters a people's confidence like suddenly finding out that people they had seen every day, people they had trusted, have been plotting their downfall," Shelvin continued. "Their world collapses and they begin to see enemies everywhere. My people exploited that for centuries." 

"Stop it," Nanami said miserably, holding him closer. "I don't want to talk about it." 

He kissed the top of her head and held his peace. Makoto smiled. It wasn't the first time he felt grateful for the man who had won his friend's heart. Over time he had won over all her friends as well, with his kindness and a gentle wisdom beyond his years. He had plenty of reason to feel bitter about what had happened to him and his people. But Makoto had never seen him express anything beyond sadness and regret. 

"NHK just came back on the air," Ifurita said. She had been monitoring the airwaves with her sensors for weeks now, scanning both public and private bands for any news that might impact the safety of her loved ones. 

"That's good news," Makoto said. Smashing the communications infrastructure had been one of the rebels' most effective tactics. The ominous silence had been more terrifying to the people of Tokyo than the bombings or the gas. Now all that remained was to repair the bridges. That, and the people's confidence. 

They all sat down and watched the news for the first time in a long while. Things would never go back to the way they were before. But they never did... 

___****___ 

"Elena's hurt!" Makoto heard Kauru wail. He had problems of his own. Two more Neo-Bugrom shot up from behind the rubble blocking the tunnel entrance, just two heads seen for a split second, two arms little more than blurs. He almost moved fast enough. One bullet glanced off his helmet, the other bounced off the cat-armor just an inch below his neck. Stunned and half-blinded with tears of pain, Makoto squeezed off two wild shots and ducked back around the corner. He had no delusions of hitting anything, but he had to discourage them from jumping into the cave, make them believe they would be shot down like their brethren who littered the rock floor. He and Nanami had the easy part, they had cover and their opponents could only come at them from one direction. From behind him he heard the staccato thunderbolts of Ifurita's staff and the whoosh and roar of the inferno the Fire Priestess was conjuring. He didn't have to look to know the Neo-Bugrom were still swarming in through every hole they could find. The mind-numbing screeching of their death agonies filled the cave. What with the latent heat from his fellows' weapons and the stench of burning bodies, the air was barely breathable. 

Kauru's scream of rage and despair carried over even the horrible din of battle. As if smelling blood, another horde of Neo-Bugrom leaped over their cover and surged down the tunnel towards their human enemies. With the low ceilings they couldn't make the spectacular grasshopper-jumps they were so fond of. But that only slowed them down a little. Makoto and Nanami sidestepped into the tunnel mouth and rapid-fired their rifles. There was no need to even aim, they were shooting into an advancing wall of Bugrom flesh. Every shot sent another body splashing to the floor. It would not be enough. They would not even have time to empty the magazines in their guns. 

There was a crack like thunder as a thousand thin streams of water streaked between Makoto and Nanami at supersonic speed. The mass of flesh they passed through did not even slow them down. 

Suddenly there was no more shooting. It took a moment for that to register. Makoto took his eyes off the charnel house in the tunnel just long enough to snap his head around and back again. The scene barely had time to imprint itself on his mind. Elena lying bleeding. Kauru slumped on the floor beside her, still dazed from the violent display of power she had just unleashed. Ifurita and Kiku standing side by side, trying to look everywhere at once, ready to unleash thunderbolts and fire again. 

"They've sounded a retreat," Ifurita said. "They're gone." It seemed that was all the prompting Nanami needed. She flipped off her helmet and let it clatter to the ground. She backed into the wall and slid down it to the floor. 

Makoto staggered over to her. "Are you okay?" 

She answered between ragged breaths that made her whole body shudder. "Dammit... getting too... old for this." Her eyes were vacant and hollow. But it looked like she would be okay. Makoto turned back to the dim, hazy interior of the cave. The hot, fetid air was nearly choking him. He blinked tears out of his eyes. Ifurita was already crouching beside Elena. She worked with the perfect machine precision that showed she had given herself over to the Voices. Within seconds of opening up the little medkit, she had adhesive dressings on the worst of Elena's cuts. The products of ancient technology would already be at work, knitting a web of tiny fabrics that would bind the flesh together again. In just a matter of seconds Ifurita fitted a tiny ampoule into an injector, jabbed it into Elena's neck, then switched it for another ampoule and did the same. 

"How is she?" Makoto asked. 

Ifurita was already closing up the medkit again. "She will live. But her skull was nearly fractured. I gave her something that should reduce swelling of the brain. Only time will tell." The young blonde priestess really looked like a mess. But she was lucky, most people who went hand-to-hand with a Neo-Bugrom ended up in pieces. 

"Don't," Ifurita warned, as Kauru reached out to Elena, looking like she intended to lift her fellow priestess' head into her lap. "She shouldn't be moved. I'll teleport her when the time comes." 

"You were right about one thing," the tall, chestnut-haired priestess of fire called from where she stood. "Whatever they found here, they sure wanted to hang onto it badly." Despite Ifurita's previous assurance, Kiku was still watching the cave entrances that dotted the rough wall both along the floor and along the stone ramp above, her Lamps ablaze with barely contained fire. 

"We killed only half their number," Ifurita replied. "They must have at least taken some part of what they wanted from here, else they would have fought to the death." 

"Should we go after them?" Kiku asked. 

"No. They will have left the caves and scattered by now. We would never find them in the forest. We will redirect patrols when we return, but in all likelihood we have lost them." 

"I'd like to go see what it is they wanted so badly," Makoto said. 

Ifurita nodded. "I'll go with you. Kiku, I doubt very much the Bugrom will return in force but they might have left snipers behind in case we get sloppy." 

"We'll watch things up here," the priestess said. "Nanami, you still in good shape?" She got a nod from the Earthling. "Okay, keep watching that back door. Shoot it if it breathes." 

"I'll also stay-" Kauru was almost to her feet when she careened wildly to one side. Ifurita barely caught her. 

The Demon God gently eased the wobbly priestess of water back to the cave floor. "You gave too much of yourself this time, my friend," she said softly. Kauru had been stubbornly hanging onto her post beyond her years. It was beginning to show. "Sit and watch over Elena. If she awakens, don't let her move." 

Kauru just nodded. She looked like she would have trouble going anywhere even if she tried. Makoto followed Ifurita to the hole in the middle of the cave floor, stepping over bodies as he went. He knew Ifurita would be able to tell if any were alive, but he couldn't help watching them warily. These were what he had termed the Mark Twos. They couldn't pass for human close up like the Mark Threes who had infiltrated and overrun the frontier cities. But they were a whole lot meaner. Ifurita had certainly surprised them by teleporting her little strike team inside their perimeter. Launching their counter strike had taken the Neo-Bugrom all of five seconds. 

The Bugrom had set up a rope ladder leading down the freshly excavated shaft. Ifurita made her intention clear by strapping her staff to the back of her new improved uniform. They held on to each other and the Demon God lifted them over the shaft. They drifted down slowly, their way barely lit by tiny glow-lamps that had been working for thousands of years. Only Elena had gone down here... just for the few seconds she needed to clear out whatever guards had been down here. Of course she was now in no condition to tell them what she had found. 

The little hallway they dropped into was somewhat more brightly lit than the shaft had been. It was easier to see that they had left the natural rock formations behind. They were now in one of the ancient buildings that were fitted together with huge blocks of what Makoto had come to think of as synthetic marble. The two broken Neo-Bugrom bodies and the spider web patterns of cracks on the wall beside them told what had happened here. A massive double door of some dull gray metal lay open. The two of them walked through. 

It was a large room, well lit by the extra glow-lamps brought in by the Bugrom. Everything said this had been a laboratory. It looked remarkably intact. Some of the machinery Makoto recognized. There were even some computer consoles that looked to be operational, as if the Bugrom had been interrupted in the act of examining their find. There was a lot of machinery he couldn't identify at first glance. But the thing that really caught his eye was the row of six huge transparent cylinders that stood like columns between organic looking machinery embedded in the floor and ceiling. Five of them held the still bodies of young girls floating in a yellow fluid. One had been smashed open, and held naught but a little pool of yellow liquid at the bottom. The realization came to Makoto just as Ifurita gasped and took a step back. 

The girls were pale with wavy, silver hair. All identical... 

___****___ 

"I can't believe it's been a year." 

"I know," Ifurita said, adjusting his tie for him. "Ai was saying the same thing." 

"How did she sound?" 

"Okay. I suppose she's been too busy to think about it much." 

"Ah, the terrible twos." 

Ifurita smiled. "Yes, she does have her hands full." 

Makoto checked his watch. "I guess it's about that time. Are you ready?" 

Of course she was. When she said it would take her seventeen minutes to get dressed, she meant it. They moved out into the hallway. "Yuki-chan," Ifurita called as she passed the girl's room. "Time to go." 

"Okay, Onesama." Yuki emerged from her room carrying the flower Makoto had brought for her. When it came time to dress formally Yuki took her lead from her big sister. Seeing them both like this, it was even more uncanny. In another six or seven years Ifurita would have another identical twin. 

Yuki took her big sister's arm and they headed for the car. "Onesama, can I drive today?" 

"Certainly not," Ifurita said mildly. 

Yuki pouted. "I've flown Makoto-onichan's skiff back in Rostalia. I bet I could drive a car." 

"I'm sure you could. But ability does not give you the right to break the law. Laws are much more rigid here. It is the price they must pay for being relatively free from the whims of aristocrats." 

"You mean I can fly boats in Rostalia 'cause we're aristocrats?" 

Ifurita smiled. "Something like that." She and Yuki got into the car while Makoto thumbed the switch to open the garage. It would take longer by car, but there were some places it just didn't seem proper to teleport to. 

On the way there Makoto was more or less silent while Ifurita and Yuki discussed some research project Ifurita had the young girl working on. The girl did not spend enough time on Earth to make it worthwhile enrolling her in a school, but Ifurita was more than capable of tutoring her. Makoto knew that his wife liked it better this way. It was more than Yuki filling a gap that had been left when Ai grew up and went on her own. He had to admit they had woken one of the five clones for dubious reasons... they had to find out what the Neo-Bugrom had stolen, had to find out what they might be up against. What awoke was a frightened young girl who told of harsh masters that had stored her away as future Demon God material. She had most of Ifurita's genetic enhancements, but none of her symbiotic implants. As far as they could tell, without those symbiants she would grow up and age normally. Yuki was bright and energetic, and despite all their best efforts to spoil her rotten she was developing an agreeable disposition. Her sisters now slept under the guard of a heavily armed garrison. Their fate was still a matter of much discussion. 

Makoto found a place to park near the gate. "I see Hiroshi-san's car," Yuki said. 

He maneuvered the car in place and killed the engine. "I hope they haven't been waiting long." 

"Basis the car's infrared signature, no more than five minutes," Ifurita said. 

They walked onto the well-treed grounds. Makoto thought of how autumn was a perfect time for such an anniversary. The stiff breeze sent the falling leaves rustling along the ground or fluttering through the air like flocks of birds. The riot of color made a lovely, melancholy backdrop for today's gathering. 

The others were waiting just far enough from a stand of tall trees not to get inundated by falling leaves. Makoto was not surprised to see Alielle and Ikuko there as well. Alielle was holding little Kenji and the two of them were doing their best to keep the infant content enough to settle down, no small feat. Being Ai and Hiroshi's primary baby-sitters, they had plenty of experience by now. 

Everyone said their greetings. Ai approached Ifurita and they joined in a brief embrace. "Thank you for coming, Mama." 

"Not at all. I see you can still wear that dress." 

Ai smiled. "Not for long, I think." Though it wasn't showing yet, she and Hiroshi had another on the way. 

It wasn't long before Nanami and Shelvin arrived. By now Makoto had almost forgotten what he looked like without his glamour. By law he could not use it in Rostalia, but he had not been back there in years. Makoto had never asked, but he wondered whether Shelvin's human guise aged naturally with him or whether it was something he did deliberately. 

"Afura and Shayla were in Rostalia last week," Nanami said after greeting Ai. "They send their love and their regrets." 

"I understand," Ai replied. The two former priestesses were busy trying to train more of the new priestesses in the use of the Lamps, something that was desperately needed in the war effort. The way the Neo-Bugrom were dug in amongst their captive humans, weapons of mass destruction were out of the question. Warriors who could take on the Bugrom one-on-one were the only answer. 

"Did you see Rune when you were there?" Alielle asked. 

"Of course. Her son is growing like a weed." 

Alielle just nodded, the real question having been asked and answered. Makoto and Ifurita were probably the only ones who picked up on that... and Ikuko too, of course. It had been inevitable that Alielle would let something slip one day. When Fatora had found out about Ikuko, Alielle had barely escaped with her life. Years later, it seemed that Fatora was still unwilling to lift the in abstention death sentence she had passed on her unfaithful concubine. Of course everybody hoped, but Makoto for one had no delusions about that ever changing. 

Nanami lifted the flower she was holding, showed it to Ai. "This is actually from Rune, I've been keeping it in water. She sends her love and hopes you'll come visit again soon." 

Ai led everyone to the place. Makoto wondered what sort of resting place Rune would have made for them had they not designated Ai's chosen homeland as the place they wanted. Probably something very grand and elaborate. After all, they had died saving her son from the Neo-Bugrom. Here there was but a single modest gray marble tablet lost among the countless rows of virtually identical ones. Ai crouched down before it and laid down the flowers and incense she had brought. While the others watched in silence, she brought her hands together in prayer. 

When it was Makoto's turn to pay his respects, he showed the item he had brought to Ai. "If it would be okay..." 

She smiled. "Of course. It's very thoughtful." 

Makoto crouched down, opened up the bottle of sake and poured a liberal amount of its contents over the headstone. There was so much he had to thank them for, not just for himself but for his friends and family... and for the very worlds he called home. He wasn't sure what he believed, and he really didn't have a way with words. In the end, the prayer he chose to send them was a simple one. 

*Well done, Sensei. Well done, Miz. Well done...* 

___****___ 

"Looks like our Lady called it right," the First Officer said. 

Makoto leaned out over the railing of the navy cutter and looked down at the city they were approaching. It didn't look as bad as he thought it should. But he could see the signs of what had been happening here. Trails of dark smoke angled up from many places within the city, converging into a brown haze being swept out across the plain. Lead elements of the cavalry were poring in through the gates that had been secured and opened by the airborne troops. Squadrons of cutters patrolled the clear blue skies. Throughout the day the Bugrom had sent whole squadrons of their own flyers to try and relieve their fellows in the city, but they had all been intercepted. It was far more than they had ever tried to do for the other cities Ifurita's legion had overrun. Yet another sign that her hunch had been right. He was here. 

An officer came trotting up the deck and in one leap took the little stairway that led up to the open bridge at the cutter's prow. He saluted the Captain. "Sir, lookouts spied a message from the ground. Commander Rilikan sends his regards and requests we drop our boats in front of the Great Hall. Advises area is well secured, sir." 

The Captain nodded. "Very good." He leaned out over the railing and examined the area around the great dome that dominated the center of the city. "Number one, bring us down to the east. We'll double back into the wind, make our drop and stay in place." 

The First Officer barked out orders. The ship began its descent, and men swarmed to the gun emplacements. Despite the Commander's assurance, the Captain was treating this as a drop into a hot zone. Probably a good idea. It had been a stiff fight. The assault had been launched at dawn, as it always was, but all the major objectives had not been secured until midday. There were just isolated pockets of resistance now. The Commander was probably just getting the last of his reserves onto the ground while there was still enough daylight to do it safely. 

The Captain turned to the company commander. "Lieutenant, you can tell your men we'll be dropping them in ten minutes." 

"Right, sir." The legionary turned to Makoto. "I expect this means you too, sir." 

Makoto smiled. "Yes, I expect it does." Ifurita's second-in-command knew Makoto was on this ship... he would have made *damned* sure the area really was secure before requesting them to make their drop. Makoto took one more look out over the city before following the Lieutenant down the ladder into the cramped interior of the ship. Their descent was a slow, careful one. Loaded down with its boats, the normally agile cutter was slow and clumsy. Which was why the modified ships of Ifurita's airborne legion always had to approach a target under cover of darkness, otherwise they would be sitting ducks. The Bugrom had been catching on to this... despite their constant improvement of the new tactics, each drop had become harder than the last. Only a cadre of Ifurita's original legionaries remained, the rest were recruits who had signed on along the way. 

Makoto and the Lieutenant settled into one of the armored boats. They were greeted with rough cheers from the riflemen. Most of these were veterans of past drops... you could spot them easily by the number of severed Bugrom antennae they had bolted to their helmets. The sergeant had a virtual crown of little bobbing antennae tips. 

The big barrel-chested sergeant graced Makoto with a gap-toothed grin. "Lord Makoto, I hear our Lady captured the Big Guy!" 

"I guess we're about to find out." The message had not come directly from Ifurita... that could mean a number of things, one of which being she was busy with matters more pressing than calling in the last of her airborne reserves. 

"Don't worry," the sergeant said cheerfully as he made sure Makoto was strapped in. "Our Lady fights by the book, but she can smell trouble better'n anyone I've seen. She's got it all under control. Besides, soon as she brings your ship down you know it's already over. Probably got the Big Guy's head up on a pike by now." 

Makoto smiled. Like all the veterans these men practically worshipped the ground Ifurita walked upon. Most of them were from one or another of the occupied cities, which was exactly what Ifurita had asked for when she was forming the new legion. They were mostly frontier irregulars who didn't fit well with the Rostalian military hierarchy but who were itching for payback. Ifurita had given it to them in spades. 

The bell rang three times. Everyone knew what that meant. They braced themselves. With a resounding clank the bolts were thrown. The boats did not need to fall even one foot, but even so Makoto felt the impact all the way up his spine. Even the enormous leaf sprints that held the great wheels in place could only do so much to cushion the fall. Immediately, the little engines whined and the boats lumbered into motion. They weren't really going anywhere, the drivers were just getting the boats into a defensive formation. Like the Captain they were doing it by the book. 

As soon as the drivers and gunners gave the okay, they opened the hatches and the rest of them filed out. News of Makoto's arrival spread like wildfire. All along the walk across the plaza, up the steps and into the great stone edifice, soldiers on the ground, in the windows and on the rooftops all cheered. Most of them waved freshly harvested antennae. Makoto's arrival heralded another victory. He was also well known among the soldiers as the designer of the little amphibious drop-ships that had proved so effective. The legionaries always treated him well. 

Makoto saw the usual signs of how dearly the victory had been bought. A hastily assembled field hospital nearby was a source of horrific screams as surgeons hastily amputated mangled limbs. Further away, a group of soldiers were struggling to subdue and manacle men who screamed and thrashed and foamed at the mouth. Drugged human shock troops. They had never been very effective, the Bugrom had probably intended them to be a terror weapon. Far from breaking morale, the ones who survived had become the legion's most enthusiastic recruits. 

She awaited him under the great dome of the central assembly hall. The marble floor was littered with the grisly remains of the vicious fighting that had won them this prize. And she had been in the thick of it. Her staff had left great blackened holes all over the place. But she was smiling, and all the riflemen in the command company - the surviving ones - were waving their weapons and bellowing war cries. Even the ones who hadn't seen it before knew what was coming... as every legionary knew this was how they had sealed every victory since the legion's first chaotic combat drop. 

The Demon God crushed her consort into a fierce, deep, long kiss. The crowd went wild. 

Makoto saw the twinkle in her eye he had come to know well. It was the aftermath of her rekindled warrior's instincts being sated, not unlike the afterglow of spent passion. But something was different this time, there was a hint of reserve, of seriousness in her manner. She held him as much in support as in celebration. Over the din of the raucous hooting and hollering, he barely heard her words. "Makoto, there is something that you need to see." 

She took him down a dark stairway into the catacombs below the great hall. The soldiers here greeted them with far more reserve than the ones above had. They gave him a look he could describe as sympathy... as if for one who was about to see what they had seen. Makoto emerged into the room and gasped. "My God..." 

The low ceiling of the vast space below the hall was supported by a honeycomb of traverse arches. It seemed to go on forever. The rows and rows of graceful curved support columns all had glow-lamps hanging from them. They dimly lit the thousands upon thousands of eggs that covered the floor. 

"None of them are near hatching," Ifurita assured him. "The flame-thrower units will be here soon. By morning this will all be ashes. This is not what I brought you here to see." She led him across the room, weaving between the great upright semitransparent eggs. They were embedded in the layer of hard, smooth resin that covered most of the floor. 

He first saw it as a great shadow ahead. As they approached he saw that the bloated thing was slowly heaving and pulsating. He also became aware of some rasping noise that waxed and waned. They approached one end of it. The group of riflemen there looked even more spooked than the others. "Any change?" Ifurita asked the officer. 

"Hasn't let up for a second," the officer said gravely. "Merciless Hell, how long do you think he's been like that?" 

Ifurita put a hand on his shoulder. "Best not to think about it, Lieutenant." 

"Not much chance of that ma'am." 

She gave him an affectionate pat and they continued on their way. They approached the end of the great helpless thing... the front end, Makoto could see. It had a head of sorts, one that looked disturbingly like a human head that had been bloated and grafted onto this thing. It hissed at their approach. "Is this... Queen Diva?" Makoto asked. 

"It was," Ifurita answered. They came closer and he could see more details now. It really did look more like a distended human head now, vaguely female. There were even a few strands of coarse hair sticking from it like a forest of curled antennae. 

She hissed louder, and suddenly she was hissing words. "The Mizuhara! We had the Chosen of God among us and yet we could not defeat the Mizuhara. The Jinnai is perfect, so the fault must be with us. The fault was that we had not fully partaken of the Jinnai's greatness. So we ate of his anointed brain and knew all that knows. His divine wisdom showed us the true path. We must make a new race of children to defeat the Mizuhara. So we took him as mate and now he gives of his seed every day. But our new children are not worthy. The fault is with us, we have failed the Jinnai. The Mizuhara has won, and now the Universe will be a Hell forever..." 

Makoto had not really heard any of this, at least not until much later when Ifurita recited it back to him. He was down on the ground vomiting. Not from the sight of the Queen Bugrom, but rather from what she held in her embrace. 

Forever held lovingly in her mandibles, the upper half of her mate's shriveled body protruded from the gray mass of her own abdomen. Old scar tissue covered the holes in his skull. There was no mind left in his distended eyes. All that was left was the laughter. The laughter that had long since settled into a rasping wheeze that waxed and waned with each shuddering breath. 

As Ifurita had promised, by morning it was all ashes... 

___****___ 

"Would you like to go to our homeroom first?" Ifurita asked. 

"No, we would hardly recognize it anyway. And with all the expensive computer equipment they've got in there these days, they probably have motion sensors." 

"We could always do your... what did you call it, your bungee cord maneuver. But I suppose you're right, the classrooms are not anything like they were in our day." 

Makoto smiled. Ifurita did her best to play the part of the wizened old obasan. But only her eyes were old, as they had been since long before he had met her. Their Earthling friends - the ones who didn't know - were not saying anything. But it would come out as a look or as a nervous laugh or as a whisper just within earshot. *What is she?* 

"Are we ready?" Ifurita asked. 

"When you are." 

Ifurita gated her staff into one hand and offered the other to Makoto. He took it, and a moment later they were elsewhere. 

In total darkness. "Love, are you sure you haven't taken us into a subway tunnel by mistake?" 

The two globes embedded in Ifurita's staff flared like oversized light bulbs, revealing her rueful smile. "If you don't trust me to drive, you should do it yourself." 

"No thanks, it gives me a headache." Which was true, he had been doing less of the interdimensional hopping in recent years. "Anyway, it looks like you were right on target." 

Their arms went around each other's waist without conscious thought. For a while they just contemplated the room in silence. Nothing had changed, except for a very fine layer of dust that dulled the colors of the floor tiles. Ifurita's hibernation chamber still stood open as it had since the day he found her here. "It's somehow smaller than I remember it," Makoto said. 

"This place looms large in both our memories." 

"It sure does. I was right about here too, when you popped out." 

"Yes, you were. But it was different." Ifurita stepped away, knelt down and put her hand to the floor. The brighter tiles on the floor, walls and ceiling began to glow. 

"It's still active?" Makoto said, surprised. 

"Enough for the lights. But even just this will drain it dry by morning." 

Morning. When they would start tearing down the school above. Makoto had not even known about it until some reporter left him voice mail asking him what he thought about it. So there were still people who remembered the old legend of the people who came back from the mythical world of El Hazard. But the anthropologists were having none of that nonsense... now that it would not interfere with the smooth functioning of this little piece of the vast Japanese educational system, the diggers were chomping at the bit to once again get their hands on this important cultural artifact. Ifurita assured him they would not find much. Without the code sequences the power systems would stay dead. All that left was some pipes and valves that directed the hibernation gases. No doubt they would postulate some elaborate vivisection and burial ceremony that would put the Egyptians to shame. 

Which was why they were here, while they could still take one last look in private. At least that was what Makoto had said. But in fact this was the place he had chosen to tell Ifurita about certain decisions he had made. 

Makoto wanted to go have a closer look at the chamber that had held and protected his love for a hundred centuries. But as soon as he took a step, Ifurita turned to face him and reached out to put a hand lightly on his chest. "Stay there, okay?" 

"Why, do you want to take a picture?" 

"In a manner of speaking." She backed up a couple of steps, turned around and walked over to the open capsule. She stepped up onto the little raised platform under the fat onion dome and turned to face him again. The effect was magical. She had her staff instead of her uniform this time, but in every other respect it was the same as that day. She was even wearing her hair the same way. That moment could have been yesterday, but it felt like an eternity lay between then and now. From the perspective of mortal man it had been the better part of an eternity, the better part of a life. 

Ifurita just stood and smiled fondly at him. Some time after they had reunited she had given him her view of that moment, through the link they shared. A bewildered young boy whose arrival she had awaited for ten thousand years. It was quite a different figure she looked upon now. All his lady friends told him he still had the same adorable baby face, bless their lying hearts. 

Ifurita stepped down from the platform and walked over to him. "In all these years, you never before asked me to accompany you here. I know you never came alone, you would not do that. Very soon we will no longer be able to come here in private. But I can't help feeling that there was some other reason." 

There was no point delaying it any longer. He took her hand. "I'm dying, Ifurita. I have two or three years at best..." 

------------------------------------------------------- 

Makoto's mind stopped wandering through the past, the march of recollected moments came to an end. The unfolding sunrise before him brought him back to the present, overwhelmed him with its beauty. "Who would have thought a desert could be so lovely." 

Ifurita said nothing, standing utterly still in his arms as she had been since the sun peeked over the horizon. It now painted the landscape in more shades of orange than he thought could possibly exist. 

He gave her a squeeze. "Hey, you're not having second thoughts, are you?" 

She did not look at him. "If you are sure it is what you want, then I have no doubts. But... I want to make sure you know, you don't have to do this thing. There are other ways that are... less irrevocable." 

"I know. Believe me, the prospect frightens me. Even more than the thought of impending death, it frightens me. But whenever I begin to doubt, I just think of two things." After a moment, she finally did turn to look questioningly at him. "I think of how much Yuki is like you... or rather how you are like her. Even after all those centuries. And then I think of how much more completely I will come to know you and understand who you are, after this is done." 

Her smile was barely a hint, gone almost before it was there. "I will help you through it as best I can." 

"I know." 

"Still, I must tell you yet again. For you it will seem to be an eternity of hell. Whatever you think now, before it is done you will have begged me to end your life." 

"It's not the pain that frightens me, Ifurita. It is what comes after, a journey I can't even imagine right now. But as long as you are with me at the end of that journey, I have no doubts." 

Ifurita turned her head back to the East again. They both knew that the matter was settled. It was a while before she spoke. "Do you want to go soon?" 

"I'd like to stay a little longer. Unless of course holding this shield in place is making you tired. You're not getting any younger, you know." 

The smile that came now was more like the one he was looking for. "Baka." 

From the slopes of Olympus Mons, they stood and watched the sun rise over the red sands of Mars. 

___****___ 

The field trip was over, so Makoto and his young students made their way back to the classroom. Said classroom was little more than a little pavilion standing in the middle of the rolling hills of green that lapped at the lower slopes of the great mountains. They had spent most of the lovely summer day in the surrounding woods, learning about how the Earth and the Machines spun a web of life around them. 

Makoto put down the little girl he had been carrying, straightened out his tunic and sat down on the tree stump that stood just outside the open pavilion. All the others were already gathered around under the shade of the octagonal roof held up by the impossibly thin columns. It was the last lesson of the day, the most important one. Story time. They settled down and a gaggle of eager faces looked up into his. 

Makoto smiled. Over the past year they had eagerly devoured many stories from him. Some, especially the older ones, regarded him as more of an elder brother than a sensei. But despite appearances they all knew that he was old enough to have seen things that were now little more than legend, could tell them things that none other could. They did not know it, but today's story would be the last. It was one he had participated in, even if he had only seen very small pieces of it. Even if he had learned not to let it show, it was one that even now he told with feelings of profound sadness. 

"Children, today I'm going to tell you the story of the Empire of Man." 

They all cheered and clapped. The grownups never talked much about the old Empire when the little kids were around. All that the young ones had ever managed to find out could be said in the span of a minute. Even Makoto Sensei, who told them many things they had never heard of before, would speak of it only in riddles. But he knew things, they could tell by the twinkle in his eye. And now he was finally going to tell. 

Makoto left them waiting just the right amount of time before beginning. "A thousand years ago, man swarmed over the Earth in unimaginable numbers. He had marvelous machines with which he remade the land as he saw fit. But they were nothing like the Machines that now envelop the Earth and preserve the Law. They were enormous, big enough to see even with the naked eye. Some were even larger than the men who made them! The biggest ones were larger than any beast that walks the earth or swims the oceans. 

"Man saw but two things before him back then: the vastness of space and the Unknown Heaven. There was no Law, nor was there the Known Heaven as there is now. Some believed the only Law was that all men must one day go into the Unknown Heaven. Some believed even that Law may not be so. Believing space to be empty they also believed it to be theirs, so they sought to lay claim to it. But between the worlds of space there lay the Void that no man could pass even in the span of his whole life. Man despaired that the Earth and the Unknown Heaven were all he would ever know. In their despair they turned upon each other, nearly destroying their world. 

"Then Man discovered the Wormholes. The first few who dared travel the Wormholes came back from distant suns and told of wondrous worlds they had stepped upon mere hours before their return! The Void no longer stood between Man and the universe that was his. Some said the Wormholes might even take them to places beyond our Universe if only they would learn how. But none ever learned how. There were more worlds than they could count just in this tiny corner of their own Universe, and Man meant to have them all. He went up above the Earth and made machines like nothing he had made before, great ships that were like worlds unto themselves. The biggest of them held more people than are on all the Earth today. These ships went out to all the stars in the Heavens, finding new worlds that they would make like unto the Earth, make their own. This was the beginning of the Empire of Man. 

"The Men on those other worlds became as numerous as their brethren back on Earth, and new worlds had to be found all the time. Over the centuries Man produced other wonders. Fewer and fewer men went into the Unknown Heaven... it was thought that one day none would ever take that path again. In its place Man created the Known Heaven that stands to this today. It was a place built within the Wormholes themselves, a place too small to measure on the outside, too large to imagine on the inside. A place where all things were possible and all things could last forever. Few men went to that place, but all men knew it well, for there was no Law and many who went in came back to tell of this place where wish and reality were one and where Time held no power over Man. 

"Man met other peoples over the centuries. Many looked much like Man, but none behaved much like him. They were all immensely old and wise, yet each had their own world and no more. They each knew of the Wormholes but cared nothing for the worlds beyond. Some of these peoples had a Known Heaven of their own, others had only the Unknown Heaven and were content with that. They told tales of other races who had gone entirely into their Known Heaven, never to return. Man called these the Elder Races. He found them curious and strange, but had little to do with them. They were as tiny points of stillness lost in the ever expanding Empire of Man. 

"Then one day, quite by chance, Man met a race that was very much like himself. On that day, we learned they called themselves the Chosen. On that day, one of their great ships and one of ours claimed the same world. On that day, the War began. 

"Imagine all the Earth filled to overflowing with people, such that the din of their comings and goings is incessant wherever you may go. Now imagine every inch of that world burned, all the people ground to dust. Now imagine that on a thousand worlds. That was the War. It lasted for centuries. It ended only because, eventually, there were so few Men and so few Chosen in the immensity of space that they simply could not find each other. Earth was one of the places where a few of the Men were left alive. They huddled in their caves, hiding from the fires and poisons that would claim them if they dared set foot on the surface. 

"That was when the Elder Races sent the Demon Gods to the Earth. The Demon Gods told Man the very things the Elder Races themselves had tried to tell the Men of the Empire. They told how only through the Law could Man avoid War. The Men of the mighty Empire had laughed. The Men who survived the War listened and learned. They accepted the Law and the Machines that the Demon Gods had brought to preserve it. 

"The Law says that in a finite world all things must remain finite. For each race, one world. For each Man, one hundred turns of the Earth about the Sun, no more. For those wishing more, the agony of becoming a Demon God and the pledge to become a Guardian of Law. For those desiring the Eternal, the Known Heaven or the Unknown Heaven, from which none may return. As on Earth, so on all the other worlds where Men and Chosen remained. The Demon Gods brought the Law to those worlds as well. Through them and through the Machines, the Law is guarded just as it has been guarded on the worlds of the Elder Races since the days when the Earth was young. 

"Thus ended the Empire of Man." 

It was the way of Story time that nobody could ask questions until the next day, so Makoto sent the children back to their homes. They scattered from the little open rotunda, heading out across the rolling fields in little groups. Many were miles from home, some even had to go down into the plains. But the little Machines would watch over them and provide for them if need be, until they were back with their families. 

When they were all out of sight, she came to him. She appeared right in the middle of the little tile floor, in the shade of the roof. The breeze played with her platinum hair. She stood with arms crossed, smiling at him. "So, which version did you tell them?" 

"The nice version." 

"Have you ever considered staying on a little longer?" 

"No. When they get much older than this, most of them will be smarter than an old fossil like me. I would just embarrass myself." 

"Seriously, these ones really have taken a liking to you. When they come tomorrow and you are not here, they will know you've gone for good. It all seems rather abrupt." 

"Well, I would have been gone next year anyway, I did agree to do a stint on Centauri. Speaking of which, I'm surprised to see you, I wasn't expecting you back from there so soon." 

She spread out her hands and shrugged. "Oh it was a simple matter, somebody trying to break the Wormhole trap." 

"It wasn't those people who want to go hunt down the Chosen, was it?" 

She chuckled. "No, these ones wanted to go hunt down the Elder Races and give them what for." 

"What, that again? It sounds like Centauri is getting even more agitated than Earth. You know, I'm of a mind to go there early, check things out. Was there anything you needed to do while we're here?" 

"No, I've already done my rounds. But before we go, I believe this is the day we said we would talk about it again." 

It took a moment for Makoto to remember. "Oh, right. The Known Heaven. So, how do you feel about it?" 

"I confess I am in no particular hurry. As you are so fond of saying, it is not going anywhere." 

No, it certainly was not. And neither was the Unknown Heaven beyond it, where their old, departed friends were waiting for them. Makoto thought about it for a moment. He shrugged. "Why don't we give it another hundred years?" 

"Okay, I'll mark my calendar." 

"Great." Makoto stood up. "Ready to go?" 

Ifurita wagged her finger. "You know procedure. Always be at full power before making a jump." 

"Yes, I suppose it has been a while." Makoto gated his staff into his hand and held it out to her. "Care to turn my crank, beautiful?" 

She winked and took it from him. "Love to, darling." 

If you're going to have a running joke last for a thousand years, you might as well make it a really bad one. 

The End 

Author's Postscript 

Some people were probably expecting more of a continuation of the previous chapters. This is more of an epilogue, mainly because I wanted to deal with what I thought was a very central issue: how will Makoto and Ifurita resolve the dilemma that she is virtually immortal and he is not? Their discovery of the lab with Ifurita's clones was, admittedly, a device to give them a means of dealing with it. 

I make no apologies for the punch line. 

So why the obsession with Ifurita? Sure she's gorgeous, but so are a lot of other anime leading ladies. I think she represents a lot of things that make her character both thrilling and terrifying. Most obvious is the Frankenstein complex... men made her to serve them and she destroyed them. Her beauty makes her all the more terrifying... she is the Black Widow, the Succubus, the Siren who can lure men to their doom. But she is not just a monster or a mindless killer, she has self awareness and a conscience, which makes her plight all the more horrific... did her inhuman senses allow her human heart to feel the agony and terror of every single one of the millions of people she was forced to slay? She is Judgment Day personified, a doomsday weapon with a moral sense. She is like an immensely old Goddess from the misty past who reminds us of our own mortality, and of the sort of price we may need to pay if we wish to become like the immortal Gods. She betrays the man who tries to enslave her and pledges her undying devotion to the man who sets her free, if not a paradox then at least a reminder that beings with free will do not behave according to Newtonian physics. You try to push them to the right and likely as not they will roll to the left. Ifurita also reminds us of what may lie in our own future... when we have finally created beings more capable and powerful than ourselves, will we have the courage to set them free or will we bind them in chains of fear? The people who made Ifurita made their choice, and Makoto made his. Finally, like all characters who are aliens, cyborgs, androids or gods in disguise, she represents the doubts we feel about each other. However human she appears, do we really know what is going on in her mind? Even if we could see her heart as Makoto does, can we be sure we really understand what we are seeing? 

Oh who am I kidding, she's an anime babe who eats Terminators for breakfast, what more could you ask for? 

Several people commenting on previous chapters had complained that I had left Jinnai entirely out of the picture. All I can say is... you asked for it. 

Observant readers have probably figured out that the attempted coup of the Japanese government reflected events in the second Patlabor movie. Really observant readers of previous chapters might recall when Makoto gave labor technology to Shinohara Heavy Industries. 

My thanks to Charles Groark, his detailed comments on the draft versions of these stories was invaluable. 

This is the last of the El Hazard Earth Chapters. My muses have not told me whether there will be any more El Hazard stories, I'll just have to wait and see. 

I hope you had fun. I sure did. 

Ken 


End file.
